He was not. McCain was born in a Panamanian hospital: civilian, not military. While I'm not aware of the Supreme Court ruling on this specific issue, at least one of the commonly cited sources for terms in the Constitution (Vattel's Law of Nations, and Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England) says that one exception to the natural-borne citizen requirement is a child born abroad to citizen parents in the service of the country. Since McCain's father was a Navy officer stationed in Panama at the time, he would meet that exemption. Absolutely correct. So few understand this very important point. When your father was aboroad in the service of the King, you were considered as born in-country. McCain was born to two American citizen parents, something Barry Soetoro cannot claim.