Posted on 01/07/2016 9:23:50 AM PST by jimbo123
Trump Playing Both Sides of Cruz Birtherism.
On Thursday, Donald Trump tweeted, ".@SenTedCruz Ted--free legal advice on how to pre-empt the Dems on citizen issue. Go to court now & seek Declaratory Judgment--you will win!"
Trump's tweet is the latest in a series of statements wherein he seems to be simultaneously fanning the flames on Cruz birtherism, and saying it won't be an issue.
On Wednesday, according to CNN, he said, "How do you run against the Democrat, whoever it may be, and you have this hanging over your head if they bring a lawsuit?"
"This was not my suggestion. I didn't bring this up. A reporter asked me this question," Trump said. He also repeated his assertion that Cruz has a Canadian passport, which Cruz denied during a separate interview Wednesday with CNN's Dana Bash.
(Excerpt) Read more at weeklystandard.com ...
It may or it may not, but it would bolster Cruz’s case. And hey you get something to crow about.
Just trying to help.
Have Congress clear this up like they cleared up Juan McCain’s eligibility in 2008.
That would really be the cherry on the top of irony that would stare JUAN McCain in the face.
Was John McCain really eligible ?
Of course his father was alive when he was born in Panama, but for hypothetically speaking, was his mother able before 1952 to transfer US citizenship when he was born if his father was forgien born ?
Declaratory judgments still require two actual parties, and an actual (or at least substantially likely) dispute between the parties. The Constitution only grants Federal courts jurisdiction to hear "case[s] or controvers[ies]" - without an actual dispute, it would be an advisory opinion, which courts (Federal courts, at least) are unable to render.
no, that’s punting and playing defense when you have the ball and are moving downfield.....
The relevant question is who would be the defendant.
At the moment as I recall Cruz has a nuisance lawsuit or two against him. So there is his other party. Or he could wait until he wins the nomination and then the big Dem legal guns come after him.
Could Ted access Obama’s birth certificate for comparison?
I once supposed that anyone who donated to a questionable candidate should have standing to sue on the grounds of fraudulent solicitation. The rationale is that if a candidate knows he is ineligible and sets up a contribution structure anyway, how is that any different than someone setting up a fake charity to defraud donors and steal their money?
That is why a donor who is actually harmed by loss of money on fraudulent terms should have standing to sue the candidate to prove his eligibility, and therefore prove that campaign solicitations are not fraudulent.
What do you think of that angle?
-PJ
Trump/Cruz proactively clearing the decks of this lurking issue and will run together as President/VP respectively?
Wrong. Not in this type of suit where Cruz would be seeking a declaratory judgment. He would unquestionably be the plaintiff.
Trump's legal analysis is (as expected) complete horsecr*p, but he's right that (in certain limited instances, which do not currently exist) Cruz could, theoretically, bring his own action to determine eligibility.
It’s going to be all academic since Cruz only has a slim chance at winning the nom. like this headline says.
“Carson’s ex-campaign head: Trump will win GOP nomination”
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3380704/posts
But Cruz could do us all a favor and win this little battle in court.
I think the issue that complicates matters is dual citizenship. Was it far less common at the time of the adoption of the Constitution? Could one be deemed a “natural born citizen” of two countries, or maybe even three if one is born in a country where neither parent is a citizen, under applicable law?
I sometimes chide my liberal acquaintances by asking who was the last US president born a British subject. People start thinking back - Madison? Jackson? William Henry Harrison? I tell them it’s Obama, since his father was Kenyan and Kenya was not independent at the time. If Barack Obama Sr. was his biological father, of course.
I am no expert, and am happy to be educated on any or all of my points. But I have not seen anything that indicates that the Founders considered a person born with dual citizenship to be a natural born citizen. Neither did they expressly exclude such a person from the definition, to my knowledge.
PS I understand that there could be another issue brewing over Constitutional interpretation that sill affect elections. Basically, the Constitution directs that congressional districts be created baaed on population. But does that cont people living in a district illegally? If so, then the Democrats don’t even need to get illegals voting; all that needs to be done is to fill Democrat-voting districts with illegals to swell the numbers and gain more congressmen and electoral votes. But that’s a topic for another thread.
[[So Cruz should sue himself for running.]]
I got rich suing myself- then lost it all in one final lawsuit against myself
last paragraph should say “that will affect elections.”
I know Ted. Nice guy, but he’s terrible.
You know, I’ve never heard him say that he wants to make America great again. Really. I haven’t.
So what does that tell you? Some people say it’s because he wants to make America worse.
Look, I’M not saying that. But some people are. And you know, that’s something Cruz is going to have to deal with.
It’s probably best that I bring it up now before the Democrats do.
I say it because he’s a good guy. And I want to help him. But he’s terrible.
—Donald Trump (next week)
If Trump is such The Great Defender of America why doesn’t he take Cruz to court to stop a foreigner from being President?...OOP!
It is HIGHLY unlikely that Obama was a British citizen.
It’s complicated. It takes reviewing various laws.
It wasn’t automatic at the time if father was a bigamist.By all accounts, he was a bigamist. I have posted the laws time and time again on this.
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