[Uncle Chip]

Labor Day Pop Quiz:

What terms are used to refer to these different classes of citizenship by the US Government:

1]Both parents US citizens and birth on American soil: ________________________

2]Both parents US citizens in the military/government service and birth on foreign soil: _________________________

3]Both parents US citizens and birth on foreign soil:
________________________

4]Neither parent US citizens but birth on American soil: ________________________

5]Only one parent US citizen and birth on American soil: ________________________

6]Only one parent US citizen and birth on foreign soil: ________________________

7]A naturalized citizen: ________________________

8]A person undergoing naturalization: ________________________

9]Children born to a person undergoing naturalization: ________________________

[Tau Food]

I don't view this issue as being as complicated as you are making it. I view the Constitutional eligibility standards (age, residency and NBC) as instructions that electors are to employ in selecting our presidents. The text of the Constitution does not provide any precise definition for the term natural born citizen. The meaning is intrinsically uncertain and permits of a range of reasonable, acceptable definitions. I agree with Justice Scalia (see his opinion in the Heller case) that when interpreting terms in the Constitution, we should attempt to find what might have been the original understanding of "ordinary citizens" (not just society's elite) living in the founding generation.

Applying those standards, I do not feel compelled to look to eighteenth century philosophers like Vattel for special little meanings. Frankly, I don't think more than a few of the "ordinary citizens' at that time had ever heard of Vattel or the little book he wrote in French. Nor do I feel compelled to assume that most "ordinary citizens" of that generation thought it crucial that one parent or two parents or grandparents be citizens at the time of the candidate's birth. I suspect that most folks back then would have given a more natural construction to the NBC clause, such as "citizen at birth."

So, in my view, "citizen at birth" is a permissible construction for the NBC clause. I recognize that other folks might choose other definitions, but I also recognize that they arrive at their special little meanings by choice and not by compulsion. The term is inherently uncertain in meaning and I accept that reality.

Ted Cruz - 2016

[Mr Rogers]

1-6 = NBC, although 6 can have some exceptions 7-9 = naturalized, or future naturalized

As the Supreme Court pointed out in Minor (1875):

"Additions might always be made to the citizenship of the United States in two ways: first, by birth, and second, by naturalization. This is apparent from the Constitution itself, for it provides that "no person except a natural-born citizen, or a citizen of the United States at the time of the adoption of the Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President," and that Congress shall have power "to establish a uniform rule of naturalization." Thus new citizens may be born or they may be created by naturalization."

[Uncle Chip]

Labor Day Pop Quiz [Updated]:

What terms are used to refer to these different classes of citizenship by the US Government:

1] Both parents US citizens and birth on American soil: ________________________.

2] Both parents US citizens in the military/government service and birth on foreign soil: _________________________.

3] Both parents US citizens and birth on foreign soil:
________________________.

4] Neither parent US citizens but birth on American soil: ________________________.

5] Only one parent US citizen and birth on American soil: ________________________.

6] Only one parent US citizen and birth on foreign soil: ________________________.

7] A naturalized citizen: ________________________.

8] A person undergoing naturalization: ________________________.

9] Children born to parents undergoing naturalization: ________________________.

10]Children brought to the US by parents who subsequently undergo naturalization:_________________________.

11]Children born to parents who are undergoing naturalization but then fail to complete it:_________________________.

12]Children brought to the US by parents who subsequently undergo naturalization but then fail to complete it:_________________________.

[Answers: natural born citizens, native born citizens, foreign born citizens, naturalized citizens, aliens/foreigners/non citizens]

Extra Credit Available