Posted on 01/16/2016 2:27:15 PM PST by Red Steel
A state legislator in Arizona is circulating a measure among her colleagues that would call for a constitutional convention to address whether Sen. Ted Cruz is eligible to run for president, The Arizona Republic reported.
The measure being floated by Republican state Rep. Kelly Townsend would have the state legislature request a constitutional convention to determine what the Constitution's "natural born" requirement means. For such a constitutional convention to be convened, two-thirds of the state's legislatures must request it.
The issue has come to the forefront of the 2016 campaign after Donald Trump re-invigorated accusations that because Sen. Ted Cruz was born in Canada, it's possible he is not a natural born citizen and thus may be ineligible for the presidency.
Many legal scholars have argued that "natural born" applies to children born abroad to an American parent (in Cruz's case, his mother), since they are citizens at the time of their birth and do not have to go to through a naturalization process. But some constitutional experts -- including a few of Cruz's defenders -- say the question is still unsettled.
"Just define it!" Townsend said of her measure, according to the Arizona Republic.
Reluctant Article V ping. This particular effort is an exercise in futility.
And yet they never questioned the homosexual Marxist Mooslim drug addict.
McCain and Rove buddy?
Um, wouldn’t it be up to the Supreme Court to settle the question, if it went that far?
It appears that AZ must have an idiot in their representative ranks.
“I know... We’ll settle this Cruz birth issue once and for all! We’ll just call up a “constitutional convention”. Ya. That’s the ticket!”
Brillant!
YaarrrrgggggHHHH!.... Shut up Howard.
Why not bring it up at the UN Security Council, and the ICC as well. Gotta resolve this once and for all!
Can someone explain why:
1. McCain was born in Panama, but the Senate passed a resolution affirming he was eligible to run for president.
2. Barry Goldwater was born in the Arizona Territory, before Arizona was even a state, but nobody questioned his eligibility to run.
3. George Romney was born in Mexico of American parents, but nobody questioned his eligibility to run for president.
Are there any other examples of a presidential candidate who was not born in one of the states and/or did not have 2 American citizen parents who were citizens at the time of his birth? IF so, did anyone ever raise questions about eligibility?
Weren’t all of those men born to 2 US citizen parents?
I think there was someone a long time ago, but I can’t remember their name. Sorry.
Yeah, this is nuts, but as Trump said, you can’t run for office with this hanging over your head and expect it to not be an issue.
Well, I will be flamed, but, clearly Ted Cruz is not an Arnold Schwarzenegger(sp?), who clearly is ineligible to run for president due to being born overseas, and became a naturalized citizen as an adult.
I think Cruz brought up some good points in the debate about this, namely, that depending how far we want to take it, Marco Rubio and Bobby Jindal would be ineligible based on the citizenship status of their parents at the time of their births. Is this really what the Founding Fathers had in mind?
I heard someone say too, that Rick Santorum’s father was not an American citizen at the time of Rick’s birth, so that he could also be said to be ineligible.
What those lying cowards fail to realize is, we are coming after them too. They're too busy making deals with Obama to do what they promised when they were elected but not too busy to try to take out all candidates that aren't a member of their exclusive club!
Its now time to declare bankruptcy on their club property and, yes, that does include all Bush compounds!
Can anyone explain exactly how Cruz is supposed to settle this issue? Can he ask the Supreme Court to rule?
Suppose a lower federal court takes the case and rules on it. It would be appealed by the loser to a higher court. Ultimately the Supreme Court will have to decide what Natural Born Citizen means relating to the presidency. But the way our courts work, the Supreme Court doesn’t just sit around and pass out decrees. Lawsuits on an issue have to work their way through the court system.
What I’m trying to say is no way this gets decided in time for the Iowa caucuses or the GOP convention or the November general election. It could be a moot point if Cruz is not the nominee, but realistically, what did everyone expect Cruz to do to “settle this” ahead of his candidacy???
There is no way to get this resolved to everybody's satisfaction until a case is heard by the court. The court cannot rule until someone has standing and has suffered damages. With Obama the court ruled that no one bringing the suit had standing. The best way to to get a ruling is to elect Ted Cruz and then a bitter Trump can sue for damages.
A state Secretary of State could disqualify him from the ballot and then it would go to court and settle the issue.
Seems to me they hate Cruz soooo much. I think this is all ridiculous. Sure is taking away news about Hillary!
I don’t see why you’d be flamed, Dilbert. You shouldn’t be anyway.
I think that’s right. Rubio, Jindal, & Nikki Haley should not be eligible, along with Cruz. The point the Founding Fathers were making, as I understand it, was that there should be no possibility of divided loyalties- as best they could identify it. There’s no accounting for what’s in men’s hearts.
I didn’t know that about Santorum. If that’s true, then he shouldn’t be eligible either.
This is odd. Kelly is a friend and a frequent Trump CRITIC online. I will find out from her what this is about.
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