For the record, I approve of politicians doing this to each other.
/johnny
Sure . . . Article II, section 1, clause 4 doesn’t exist in the Constitution.
I'm pretty sure that if Ted Cruz were ever elected President then he would not become a puppet of the Canadian government.
This whole debate is stupid, because the original intent was to ensure loyalty to America and not a foreign sovereign.
Is this author serious? He sounds like an idiot. The “citizen...at the time of the adoption” clause was because it was impossible to find natural-born citizens of a country which didn’t yet exist.
yes, they did care
“I don’t think that the Framers were even thinking about potential presidents born to American parents abroad Their concern was naturalized citizens, and it was a lot more immediate and urgent.”
STOP RIGHT HERE! This idiot “THINKS” he knows what the framers intended, and then goes on to prove that he doesn’t.
No need to read further.
The "natural born" citizen clause in particular appeals to the mythological imagination.
Ahhh! Another freshing dose of distilled stupidity from the Atlantic!
I have a hunch that site and Salon are where people go after they can't even make it on television.
Ah yes, the "many people" opening often used by liberals to introduce their personal cockeyed opinions.
Yes, the founders were concerned with DUAL and DIVIDED loyalties.
They want the President to be DEVOTED to the United States and NOT to any other country.
I think that was the SPIRIT of their concern.
Having said that, let’s get real...
Being born a natural-born citizen does not guarantee that you will love America when you grow up ( See for instance, The American Taliban, John Walker Lindh ).
Being born a foreigner on the other hand does tell us where a person’s heart will lie when he becomes a naturalized American. I know of several foreign born soldiers who have fought bravely for this country.
Ted Cruz seems to be a good guy, but he has zero qualifications to be President.
And as for “natural born,” it’s hardly surprising that the Communist Atlantic wants to twist things.
Cruz is doing a good job right where he is, so far. Let’s encourage him to keep on doing it. We don’t gain anything by bending the Constitution just because the Democrats do it. First you bend it a little, then a little more, then you throw it in the garbage. That’s what the Atlantic wants us to do, for obvious reasons.
Obviously, Ted Cruz is *not* a “natural born citizen” of the United States.
Since the original draft allowed naturalized citizens to become President, and since the change was adopted without debate, it is hard to know exactly what the Founders were thinking. I suspect the truth is they were tired and were not particularly concerned, so they didn’t mind adopting a fairly well-known legal phrase that would prevent naturalized citizens (except for the Grandfather clause) from becoming President.
There wasn’t a loyalty clause in the Constitution. The People were supposed to ensure the person elected was a loyal US citizen - something voters don’t seem to care about any more, since no sane person would have suggested Obama thought well of the USA in 2008...
No but they would have asked to see a real birth certificate
Spoken like a Leftist-Theorist. Understanding the intent of the text of law is an essential task in upholding and enforcing that law. What people like this author want is to just go along with the author's interpretation of what and why the "natural born citizen" requirement is in the Constitution. But we're not to be ruled by the ever-changing whims of the Left (or Right for that matter). Original intent and understanding of the text is a basic and very important judicial step in correctly construing an ambiguous clause in the Constitution. It doesn't guarantee perfection but it does support the rule of law - a much happier state of society than the rule of man and his ever-changing whims in which we find ourselves today.
Yes. They would indeed have cared, otherwise they would not have taken the time to include specific clauses regarding eligibility.
Nearly every single person posting comments to this article is a liberal, so that says something about who actually reads The Atlantic. It’s trash.
No. Because if Ted Cruz was alive, and in the country back then, he would have been a British subject like Pres. Washington.
Ok, disregard this post...
5.56mm