Posted on 08/30/2013 12:02:15 PM PDT by Jim Robinson
By Ilya Shapiro, Senior Fellow In Constitutional Sudies and Editor-In-Chief, Cato Supreme Court Review
As we head into a potential government shutdown over the funding of Obamacare, the iconoclastic junior senator from Texas — love him or hate him — continues to stride across the national stage. With his presidential aspirations as big as everything in his home state, by now many know what has never been a secret: Ted Cruz was born in Canada.
(Full disclosure: I’m Canadian myself, with a green card. Also, Cruz has been a friend since his days representing Texas before the Supreme Court.)
But does that mean that Cruz’s presidential ambitions are gummed up with maple syrup or stuck in snowdrifts altogether different from those plaguing the Iowa caucuses? Are the birthers now hoist on their own petards, having been unable to find any proof that President Obama was born outside the United States but forcing their comrade-in-boots to disqualify himself by releasing his Alberta birth certificate?
No, actually, and it’s not even that complicated; you just have to look up the right law. It boils down to whether Cruz is a “natural born citizen” of the United States, the only class of people constitutionally eligible for the presidency. (The Founding Fathers didn’t want their newly independent nation to be taken over by foreigners on the sly.)
What’s a “natural born citizen”? The Constitution doesn’t say, but the Framers’ understanding, combined with statutes enacted by the First Congress, indicate that the phrase means both birth abroad to American parents — in a manner regulated by federal law — and birth within the nation’s territory regardless of parental citizenship. The Supreme Court has confirmed that definition on multiple occasions in various contexts.
There’s no ideological debate here: Harvard law professor Laurence Tribe and former solicitor general Ted Olson — who were on opposite sides in Bush v. Gore among other cases — co-authored a memorandum in March 2008 detailing the above legal explanation in the context of John McCain’s eligibility. Recall that McCain — lately one of Cruz’s chief antagonists — was born to U.S. citizen parents serving on a military base in the Panama Canal Zone.
In other words, anyone who is a citizen at birth — as opposed to someone who becomes a citizen later (“naturalizes”) or who isn’t a citizen at all — can be president.
So the one remaining question is whether Ted Cruz was a citizen at birth. That’s an easy one. The Nationality Act of 1940 outlines which children become “nationals and citizens of the United States at birth.” In addition to those who are born in the United States or born outside the country to parents who were both citizens — or, interestingly, found in the United States without parents and no proof of birth elsewhere — citizenship goes to babies born to one American parent who has spent a certain number of years here.
That single-parent requirement has been amended several times, but under the law in effect between 1952 and 1986 — Cruz was born in 1970 — someone must have a citizen parent who resided in the United States for at least 10 years, including five after the age of 14, in order to be considered a natural-born citizen. Cruz’s mother, Eleanor Darragh, was born in Delaware, lived most of her life in the United States, and gave birth to little Rafael Edward Cruz in her 30s. Q.E.D.
So why all the brouhaha about where Obama was born, given that there’s no dispute that his mother, Ann Dunham, was a citizen? Because his mother was 18 when she gave birth to the future president in 1961 and so couldn’t have met the 5-year-post-age-14 residency requirement. Had Obama been born a year later, it wouldn’t have mattered whether that birth took place in Hawaii, Kenya, Indonesia, or anywhere else. (For those born since 1986, by the way, the single citizen parent must have only resided here for five years, at least two of which must be after the age of 14.)
In short, it may be politically advantageous for Ted Cruz to renounce his Canadian citizenship before making a run at the White House, but his eligibility for that office shouldn’t be in doubt. As Tribe and Olson said about McCain — and could’ve said about Obama, or the Mexico-born George Romney, or the Arizona-territory-born Barry Goldwater — Cruz “is certainly not the hypothetical ‘foreigner’ who John Jay and George Washington were concerned might usurp the role of Commander in Chief.”
Yap, that self deprecating humor was the Gipper’s strong suit. Cruz, the champion debater from Harvard, should try to cultivate that quality. Cruz is however on a much higher intellectual level than Reagan, so there is that compensation.
The tirade prompted me to donate to SarahPac and, hopefully, help remove Peter King from Congress.
PS: Get well soon, Jim
While at Princeton, he competed for the American Whig-Cliosophic Society’s Debate Panel and won the top speaker award at both the 1992 U.S. National Debating Championship and the 1992 North American Debating Championship.[26] In 1992, he was named U.S. National Speaker of the Year and Team of the Year (with his debate partner, David Panton).[26] Cruz was also a semi-finalist at the 1995 World Universities Debating Championship.[27]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Cruz
I congratulate Ted on his graciousness in respecting his elder and inferior, withholding fire and promoting his own talking points instead.
If the good Senator had let BO'R have it with both barrels, it would be like shooting fish in a barrel.
It would be like Bill Buckley debating Rachel Jeantel.
You are The Master, Old Sarge....we give the perfect set-up, you never fail to come right back with the perfect punch line.
Bravo!
I can't stop laughing......
Leni
Senator Cruz is the kind of conservative that brings joy to
the libs. He ignores Ronald Reagan’s 11th commandment not to
speak ill of fellow Republicans,some of whom now label him
a fraud. Cruz’s obvious placement of personal political goals
above country, is becoming clearer every day.
Sadly, in 2016, Cruz is likely to be strong enough to knock
off Rand Paul in the primaries,and with the 2 of them both
bloodied, open a path to saddle us once again with another make believe conservative in the mold of a Romney or McCain.
The person you addressed this post to is the site owner. He is currently in surgery and might respond after he recovers.
He would not likely agree with your perspective, though.
Oh, and welcome aboard.
“That he will renounce his Canadian citizenship and has not addressed his Cuban citizenship
ought to be note worthy.”
************
I guess the question becomes does he have Cuban citizenship? Do you know?
https://sites.google.com/site/ajustice999/cuba/cuban-constitution—chapter-ii—citizenship
Ok, while insulting, that is pretty funny and I'm going to use it.
Hmmm., I’ve heard a lot of the “My way or the Highway” mantra lately....
Is not this site funded by donations?
Dialog, even when unpleasant, is valuable and should be encouraged, not stifled (I agree ad homenim attacks notwithstanding).
I personally believe NBC is more than what a corrupted SCOTUS, or a federal law states. NBC means just that, not derived from some act of will or act of law based on a flawed interpretation of the 14th Amendment.
Ted Cruz, in my opinion, like Mitt Romney and Obama, does not meet the NBC criteria of being born to two parents, both citizens, natural or naturalized, at time of his birth, within the jurisdiction of the US.
Sorry, but the principle of Occam’s Razor applies.
If you dislike my opinion, based in the understood definition of international law of the day (of the Constitution)and decide to ban me for it, go ahead.
Be kind enough to send me a note though, otherwise you’ll be acting like “them”...
Both law and SCOTUS opinion are changeable, the wording of the US Constitution is not.
Anyway, I like Ted, too.
I just refuse compromise any longer, after all, it is only our republic at stake.
Regards;
Fortunately, Ted Cruz is NOT like Romney or Obama. Ted Cruz is a genuine pro-God, pro-life, pro-family, pro-gun, pro-drilling, pro-constitution, small government, big defense Reaganite conservative and carries the blessings of the grassroots conservatives. In short, he’s exactly what we on Free Republic are looking for in a president. Also, fortunately, as he was born to a fully qualified U.S. citizen working in Canada, he’s a natural born citizen. Those who know me and love Free Republic and all that we stand for will appreciate all of the above. Our highway is the straight and narrow one. You can walk with us or not, Your choice. Thank you very much.
I agree he all the above except a NBC. I doubt that is enough for us to be other than friendly, unless you make it so(acid test).
Why can we not find a man or woman who has two American parents to run for POTUS? Are we that European these days?
Okay, I’ll do it, but you’ll have to convince my wife.
If anyone thinks Cruz or Paul or Lee etc will get a GOP nod in two years, your are smoking something.....
Regards;
Dittos!
Cruz is my guy. Anyone who can get McAmnesty in such a fit is the perfect candidate! NO MORE RINOS!
Vote for the lesser of two evils. Give money only to candidates you actually like. Man, if I didn’t vote for the lesser of two evils, I could end up almost never voting!
Well, now that the precedent’s been set I guess a donkey could pretty much be “president”! :O
I would fully support Ted Cruz as president from the knowledge I have now. May God bless him and protect him and watch over us and give us strength to return to freedom and to him.
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