The Top Ten “Birther” arguments against Ted Cruz, and why they are completely wrong

Western Free Press ^ | March 13 2014 | Patrick Colliano and Gregory Conterio

[iowamark]

Are you confused about the claim that Ted Cruz is not a natural-born citizen, with all its attendant disinformation? Well, here is your answer.

We have gathered together the top arguments of those who challenge Senator Cruz’s eligibility to serve as president, along with exhaustive research and links to original sources, and condensed it all into one, bite-sized yet authoritative piece.  We have done all the work for you, assembling a definitive reference you can use any time you hear someone say that Ted Cruz is ineligible to run for and serve as president.

So without any further ado, here are the Top Ten Birther*Arguments against Ted Cruz’s eligibility, and the reasons they are completely wrong.

Argument 1 – “Natural-born citizen” (NBC) and “Citizen at birth” (CaB) have completely different meanings.

Answer – No, they do not.  They are synonymous.  If you think the idea they aren’t synonymous is silly, you may not need to go on, because unless it is true, the entire debate is over.  You would also be in agreement with the Congressional Research Service, which published a paper in 2011 reaching the same conclusion.  Trying to argue that they do not mean the same thing is akin to claiming the terms dog and domestic canine mean completely different things.  The burden of proof rests with the Eligibility Challengers.  I have never heard or read anyone provide any proof whatsoever for the contention these terms have different meanings.  There is no case law, and nothing else in the U.S. code or the Constitution itself, lending support to the idea that the two terms have separate meanings. Claims to the contrary are dealt with serially throughout this primer.

Argument 2 – Cruz isn’t qualified because he’s not a natural-born citizen; let him stay in the Senate where he’s doing some good.

Answer – If Cruz isn’t qualified to serve as president, he isn’t qualified to serve in the Senate either, because he is not a citizen at all.  There are only two types of citizenship: natural-born, and naturalized.  If Cruz is not a NBC, he is not a citizen at all, because he has never been naturalized.  I have heard and read many arguments put forth by Eligibility Challengers to the effect that while Cruz is not natural-born, he is still a citizen.  The impossibility of this claim is supported by case law.

Argument 3 – A NBC is someone born on U.S. soil, whose parents are BOTH citizens.

Answer – This is false.  The term NBC comes to us from English Common Law.  This fact is confirmed and supported by judicial precedent.  And at the time of the founders, the legal definition of NBC was more sophisticated and complex.  It included children born on English soil, as well as children born on foreign soil, whose fathers were English subjects.  This was in fact the standard for establishing citizenship at birth for most of the world at the time.  The only distinction between then and now is that women are now considered legally equal to men, so that citizenship status may flow from either parent, not just the father.  That is unless you want to try to make the argument citizenship status should ONLY flow from the father to the child, and the mother’s status doesn’t count.  Good luck making that argument.

Argument 4 – The Framers used the definition of NBC established by Emer de Vattel in his book The Law of Nations, which requires native birth, and TWO citizen parents.

Answer – First, as noted above, the term NBC comes from English Common Law, not from Vattel, who did not use that term in writing his book.  Second, there is no evidence the Framers gave Vattel’s work any special weight or influence when writing the Constitution.  Vattel was a committed monarchist, and many of his views were antithetical to the Framers.  Finally, Vattel did NOT use the two-parent citizens standard in his recognition of what he called “indigènes.”

Argument 5 – The Supreme Court case “The Venus” establishes a legal precedent defining the meaning of NBC

Answer – No, it does not.  There is no such language in the opinion written in this case.  Eligibility Challengers point to a quotation of Vattel’s The Law of Nations that is contained in the ruling, and claim it creates legal precedent establishing a definition of NBC.  The trouble is the Venus was not a unanimous decision by the court.  The passage quoted comes from the dissenting opinion of Chief Justice John Marshall.  Dissenting opinions do not carry any legal authority or precedent.  And as has already been established earlier, Vattel is not regarded as either the source of the meaning of NBC, or even particularly influential upon the Framers.

Argument 6 – The Supreme Court case Shanks vs. DuPont establishes a legal precedent defining the meaning of NBC

Answer – No, it does not.  There is no such language in the opinion.  The case is somewhat complicated, and concerns the question of when a woman by the name of Ann Shanks actually lost her citizenship status in order to determine the disposition of her estate after her death, not whether or not she was a citizen.  The particulars took place during a unique time in history, that being the War for Independence with Great Britain, and Shanks’ citizenship status was controlled by a combination of factors, including her father’s choice to support the Colonials as opposed to the British, her age at the time of his death, and the particulars of the Treaty of Paris, which established the terms to end the war.  The only precedent concerning citizenship established by this case is that one cannot gain or lose citizenship through marriage, even if that marriage is to an alien of a belligerent nation.

Argument 7 – The Supreme Court case Dred Scott vs. Sanford establishes a legal precedent defining the meaning of NBC

Answer – No, it does not.  There is no such language in the opinion.  As with The Venus, eligibility challengers are relying again on a quote taken from Vattel incorporated in one of the opinions written in the decision, but once again it is not the majority opinion of the court, but a separate opinion written by Justice Peter Vivian Daniel, and as with The Venus, it carries no legal weight or influence.  AND as has been established elsewhere, Vattel was still not the source of authority for the meaning of NBC.  (Apparently, however, he was quite influential on Supreme Court Justices writing minority opinions!)

Argument 8 – The Supreme Court decision Minor vs. Happersett establishes a legal precedent defining the meaning of NCB

Answer – No, it does not.  There is no such language in the opinion.  You can find a detailed analysis of the case here.  I find the fact eligibility challengers ever refer to this case to be really ironic.  Minor was a suffrage-era case in which a woman, Virginia Minor, argued that being a citizen by birth, she could not be denied the right to vote.  The Supreme Court agreed that she was a citizen by birth (obviously), but that did not give her any such right—indeed, that the Constitution did not guarantee anyone such a right.  The irony is the precedents this decision does establish actually defeat many of their own arguments.  These include the Court’s finding that Congress could define the meaning of NBC, and that there were only two types of citizen, NBC and naturalized.

Argument 9 – The Supreme Court case United States vs. Wong Kim Ark has nothing to do with the question of NBC, because Wong Kim Ark’s citizenship “came from the 14^th Amendment.”

Answer – This case is something of an “inconvenient truth” for eligibility challengers—first, because it is one of the most important court cases in U.S. history dealing with citizenship, and second, because rather than supporting their argument, it undermines it.  It is truly shocking to see how many eligibility challengers don’t bother to read the cases they cite, as you will sometimes hear them claim that this case somehow proves their contentions about the definition of NBC.  Quite the reverse is true.  Wong Kim Ark clearly establishes English Common Law as the source of the Framers’ understanding of NBC, and that anyone born on U.S. soil, regardless of their parentage, obtains their citizenship at birth.  By the way, this precedent also covers Sen. Marco Rubio, who some eligibility challengers also like to claim is not a NBC because his parents were not citizens at the time of his birth.  Rubio was born in the United States, and so is a NBC.

Argument 10 – The Supreme Court case Perkins vs. Elg establishes a legal precedent to the effect that NBC requires TWO citizen parents

Answer – No, it does not.  There again is no such language in the opinion.  The typical claim is that the opinion says the only reason Perkins was a CaB is that her parents were both naturalized citizens, and this means you must have TWO citizen-parents in order to be a CaB.  The opinion says nothing of the sort, and in fact actually makes clear the fact that her status as a citizen is established by her birth on U.S. soil alone.

It actually all boils down to just one argument…

The first thing one must understand is the entire eligibility-challenger argument as it pertains to Ted Cruz is based on two assertions:

1. The terms natural-born citizen (NBC) as used in Section 1, Article II of the Constitution, and citizen at birth (CaB) are NOT synonymous, and mean entirely different things.
2. The term natural-born citizen had a single, clear, and universally understood meaning among the Framers of the Constitution when employed in the writing of Article II, and that meaning trumps all code law.

Briefly, these two assumptions are vital to ALL arguments made by eligibility challengers, because, as noted earlier, NBC and CaB are synonymous terms, and the definition of CaB is contained in Title 8, Subsection 1401 of the U.S. Code.  By claiming the two terms are not synonymous, they believe they can dispense with the definition contained in 1401 altogether.  This is vital to their arguments, because under 1401, Cruz is clearly qualified to serve as president.  This is not some dodge or loophole as eligibility challengers may imply, this law is many decades old, and predates Cruz’s birth.  Subsection 1401 has been the controlling legal authority on the definition of who is a natural-born citizen, a.k.a. citizen at birth, since its codification, and in fact is supported by Supreme Court precedent as well as all our history.  Vattel, Wong Kim Ark, Shanks and all the rest is just window dressing.

In conclusion, not a single argument put forth by the eligibility challengers holds up.  Each is either a misinterpretation at best or an outright falsehood at worst.  Arguing over this issue has become a waste of time much better spent on other things.  Unfortunately, there are a few folks who continue to cling to this view, and equally unfortunate is the often venomous attitude they display toward anyone who disagrees with them.  Most of the arguments you may encounter will consist of one or more of the claims we have covered above.  And most of the time, they will count on you not bothering to actually try to research or verify what they claim a particular court case says.  Consider this your “Cliff Notes” on all their arguments—a concise, documented reference to all that is wrong about their claims.

_________________________

*Birther – Although this term is proudly worn by some, it is often used as a demeaning pejorative, which is not our intent.  Unfortunately, it is also the only widely recognized term for those who argue against the eligibility of Cruz, Obama, Rubio and others, based on their misunderstanding (or to be fair, their misrepresentation in some cases) of U.S. law.  To avoid the appearance casual insult, we have substituted the term Eligibility Challengers throughout most of this work.

_________________________

Additional research and documentation can be found here:

Primer on the Eligibility of Ted Cruz for President in 2016: Part 1 – Did Vattel’s The Law of Nations provide the Framers’ definition of Natural Born Citizen? by Patrick Colliano

Primer on the Eligibility of Ted Cruz for President in 2016: Part 2 – An Analysis of Minor vs. Happersett, by Patrick Colliano

Primer on the Eligibility of Ted Cruz for President in 2016: Part 3 – Analysis of The Venus, Wong Kim Ark, Shanks vs. DuPont and other SCOTUS precedents dealing with Citizenship, by Patrick Colliano

_________________________

About the authors – A very common accusation hurled at anyone skeptical of “Birther” theories is that they are motivated by simple political partisanship, so it is worth noting that Mr. Colliano and Mr. Conterio occupy opposite ends of the political spectrum on most issues.

Mr. Colliano is comfortable being described as generally liberal.  No supporter of Ted Cruz, he says ” Even as I was writing my essays, the news was reporting his one-man filibuster of the Affordable Care Act. I had to ask myself again why I was bothering to spend my time and creativity defending this guy. The answer, of course, is that it’s right. If Cruz wins the next Presidential election, especially by a narrow margin, I could end up kicking myself for it. But Ted Cruz, like all candidates for public office, deserves to be judged upon his merits, not rejected on the basis of some ridiculous misconception that he is not eligible.”

Mr. Conterio is unabashedly conservative in his views, as regular readers of WFP will undoubtedly know.  He says “I was actually beguiled by the early reports and arguments that Obama may not be a natural-born citizen, but was quickly disabused of the idea after spending an afternoon verifying Obama’s parentage, and going straight to the U.S. Code to see what it says about being a natural-born citizen.  I knew at that point it was foolishness.  Today, I probably have just as many conservatives who don’t like me as liberals, due to my persistent habit of debunking their claims about Obama, Cruz, or Rubio.  It is way past time we move beyond the ‘birther’ phenomenon.”

[DiogenesLamp]

There is no such thing as "citizenship," in nature, because nature does not create nations or boundaries. "Citizenship" is always and everywhere a creation of positive law.

You never heard of this thing called "Tribes"? I would say "tribes" are pretty natural. What "positive law" creates them?

By the way, Nation, Natural, Native, Natal, and Nativity, all have the same root word. It means "relating to birth."

[M Kehoe]

If a Marxist Muslim born in Kenya can become the president, than Cruz has no problem, right democRATs?

5.56mm

[M Kehoe]

than=then

Sheesh.

5.56mm

[DiogenesLamp]

From the Naturalization Act of 1790 (from Wikipedia):

I hate it when people cite that act because they always leave out the salient clause, as you did too.

Provided, that the right of citizenship shall not descend to persons whose fathers have never been resident in the United States:

Apparently Congress had a problem with Non Resident (meaning Foreign) Fathers. It disallowed citizenship for those people born to Foreign Fathers.

Now are you happy you brought this up? Your citation of the Naturalization act of 1790 absolutely proves you wrong. Children born to foreign fathers are REJECTED for citizenship.

Next time remember that the document proves the opposite of what you want before you bring it up.

[DiogenesLamp]

Now we have a competent, qualified, America-loving candidate with real accomplishments and a demonstrated track record. Up yours.

Agree. Since they don't follow the rules, there are no rules.

[odawg]

I have no clue what you are talking about. I did NOT leave out the “salient” clause. Go look at my post again (or maybe you pinged the wrong person).

My point was that the Naturalization Act of 1790 defines what the framers meant by “natural born citizen” — which is a person whose parents are citizens of the United States. The clause you cite, and which I also included, seems to be fairly straight forward. I cannot see how anyone can not understand it. It bolsters the definition I mentioned.

[DiogenesLamp]

H. Brook Paige v. James Condos, Secretary of State of Vermont and President Barack Obama: Robert R. Bent, Presiding Judge “While the court has no doubt at this point that Emmerich de Vattel’s treatise The Law of Nations was a work of significant value to the founding fathers, the court does not conclude wthat his phrase–“The natives, or natural born citizens, are those born in the country, of parents who are citizens.”

Note the usage of the word "Citizen"? Nero here would have us believe we used every characteristic of the English Subject except the word "Subject."

I argue that the usage of the word "Citizen" is itself intended to represent a break from the principles and character of a "Subject."

Where did this word come from? Blackstone and Shakeaspear both use it to describe the inhabitants of a city, and that is exactly the root word for it. "City"-"zens". Denizens of a City.

But Jefferson used it differently. He used it to describe the inhabitants of a Confederated Republic.

Where in the English language is it used in such a manner?

Not in Shakespeare or Blackstone. In English it generally meant the inhabitants of a City.

So where did Jefferson get the idea to apply it to a Country?

Well it seems this member of the Swiss Confederated Republic wrote a book in which he used the word to describe the members of a Free Republic.

Les citoyens sont les membres de la societe civile : lies a cette societe par certains devoirs et soumis a son autorite, ils participent avec egalite a ses avantages. Les naturels, ou indigenes, sont ceux qui sont nes dans le pays, de parens . citoyens

He argued in this book that people had the right to break away from a Monarchy and form a Republic, and that this was a natural right. He wrote this in the Swiss Republic which had done that very thing. They too had broken from a Monarchy and formed a Republic.

This book made the rounds in the Colonies just shortly before the clamor for Independence occurred.

Prior to that, the word "Citizen" was little used, and mostly mean the inhabitants of a City. At least in English it did.

So something caused Jefferson to toss the word "Subject" and to replace it with the word "Citizen." I argue that it was the influence of that Book, because that book is also the only book in the world at the time that argued for the right to independence.

That book more or less kicked off our revolution.

[DiogenesLamp]

Or are you suggesting that a president-elect Cruz would be ruled ineligible and then the losers would become the victors? It doesn’t work that way.

Marriage doesn't work the "gay" way either, but we are seeing a lot of impossible changes happening lately.

Don't tell me that "it doesn't work that way." Our opposition has absolutely no integrity, and it may very well work "that way" if they take it through our insanely LIEberal courts.

[DiogenesLamp]

The Founders and Framers made provision for any and all of their original thinking to be altered by constitutional amendment.

Except that one. You can't alter a "natural law." It isn't subject to the amendment process.

[hosepipe]

Anyone who acquires citizenship at birth is good enough. That is a stupid standard, but we are now a very stupid people.

---

Generally thats true..

Can’t really call the “Mexican’s” stupid for coming to the U.S. to receive liberal handouts by ultra liberal so-called entitlements.. pretty smart actually..

Communism is SOLD AS total entitlemnts.. UNTIL communism arrives then ONLY Party members get them..
not in “the party” you get SQUAT..

lower party members get a bone.. now and again..

PITY, Americans have no idea (generally but widely) what socialism, communism, fascism really IS...

MOST could care less, as well... public school is a latrine for the mind..

[DiogenesLamp]

If Senator Cruz is in the top tier of candidates for the nomination at some point, I’m betting that his eligibility will be challenged in courts and via state election boards.

I said that over a year ago. They don't even have to win in court. They can do enough damage just by challenging him.

All they have to do is sow doubt in the people's minds, and a lot of our population is so stupid that if they hear it's been taken to court they will think it must be true.

People like Obama don't get elected in a sane and intelligent nation.

[DiogenesLamp]

Obama was born on US soil (Hawaii) to a US citizen mother.

We might believe this is true had he ponied up his birth certificate back in August of 2008. Since he has been hiding it and jumping through incredible legal hoops to keep anyone from seeing it, and since he has finally produced that Frankenstein monster forgery, we can all reasonably doubt that he was born in this country.

People actually born here do not have to do so much ducking and hiding rather than prove it.

Oh, and if he wasn't born here, His mother's citizenship wouldn't have made him a citizen. She was too young to meet the requirements of the citizenship law in effect in 1961.

[AmericanVictory]

Judges giving a pass to one person on the issue because of their political views and unwillingness to do anything against a black citizen for fear of being called racist does not establish a legal precedent. the decisions were political not legal. In a situation where their politics will cause them to rule against Cruz if they can, they will be willing to do so. Essentially the question is undecided still in terms of precedent.

[DiogenesLamp]

The Statement by the governor of Hawaii is not dispositive of the truth. It is meaningless.

Also I don't recall them specifically saying he was born in Kapi’olani back then. Please be a dear boy and find that statement asserting he was born at Kapi’olani Hospital.

I know you have it ready to hand with all your other cross indexed supporting statements for Obama's legitimacy. Please consult your carefully ordered Obama Legitimacy files and fetch it out for us, will you?

[DiogenesLamp]

There’s been 117 years for a ruling that differentiates a Citizen of the United States At Birth from a natural born citizen and that ruling has not yet been handed down.

Funny, I can't think of any rulings that declare them to be the same as a bird either. Could it be the lack of a ruling on something which was common knowledge in 1776 does has no great significance?

I don't know of any rulings that say "Grass Grows and Water is Wet." either. Perhaps for the first 150 years of the nation's existence, the court did not have time for silly nonsense?

[ROCKLOBSTER]

I don't recall them specifically saying he was born in Kapi’olani back then.

Kapi’olani?

I thought he was born in Canada...with a Cuban father.

[DiogenesLamp]

“Redefining” is your term, not mine. As the Supreme Court said in Minor v Happersett (1874): “The Constitution does not say, in words, who shall be natural-born citizens. Resort must be had elsewhere to determine that. “

Glad you quoted that. It demonstrates that the 14th amendment definition is *NOT* the definition of "natural born citizen."

The 14th amendment says exactly who will be a "citizen". That the court recognized that it was silent on what constitutes a "natural born citizen", demonstrates that the 14th amendment definition cannot apply.

If it did, the court's would have said, "The Constitution says EXACTLY who shall be "natural born citizens." "

[DiogenesLamp]

It is possible for U.S. citizen parents to transmit citizenship to their children depending on when the child was born and when the parents lived in the United States.

If the applicant was born to one U.S. citizen parent and one alien parent:
The child was born between Dec 24, 1952 and Nov 14, 1986, then the U.S. citizen parent must have resided in the U.S. ten years prior to the applicant’s birth, with five of those years occurring after the parent turned 14.

Do you know what is a difference between this sort of citizenship and "natural born" citizenship? You don't have to get out the rule book to see if the "natural born" qualify.

[DiogenesLamp]

Six Justices of the Supreme Court disagreed with your point of view in 1898 and for the last 117 years, their opinion has held sway: United States v. Wong Kim Ark (1898)

And those same six, plus another one, agreed that Blacks are second class citizens. (Plessy v Ferguson.) I'm thinking their judgement is faulty, so we ought not trust it.

[DiogenesLamp]

Everythng I’ve read from liberals is that they support Cruz’s eligibility because it justifies Obama’s eligibility.

And they are such honest and honorable people that we should simply trust them to keep their word.

I trust liberals. Don't you?

They aren't scum sucking liars and baby murdering vermin like most people on this website believe. We just have to take them at their word, and then everything will be okay.