The Framers INTENDED that the president by born in America, and bred by parents who are citizens. This is a special, natural citizenship that is unassailable. Cruz is ONLY A CITIZEN BECAUSE CONGRESS DECREED THAT IT WOULD BE SO. Without Congress, Cruz would not even be a citizen.
Thank you. Exactly. The Constitution does not define natural born citizen, except to grandfather everybody who was a citizen (of one of the states) at the time of ratification. There is a murkiness to this. People who look to English common law preceding the formation of the U.S. make valid points about what it might have meant 240 years ago. But, we have a lot of statutory laws and judicial decisions since then. Including some by the very people who wrote the Constitution and were involved in the process of ratifying it.
There are some things that have come out of this discussion that are of practical importance:
1. Dual-citizenship. In the age of the welfare state, is this practical. When Donald and Melania married, she had to make a decision concerning her Slovenian citizenship (we’re o.k. with dual citizenship, but they’re not). Ditto Boris Johnson, Mayor of London, when somebody figured out he was a dual-citizen, the U.S. government sent him a tax notice. the Congress should look into this matter. Maybe children, when they reach a certain age, should have to decide.
2. Children of illegal aliens and of people here on temporary visas. Let’s deal with this thing. It really has never been an issue. By practice, the children have been considered citizens at birth (”anchor babies”). Let’s have Congress address this.