Posted on 09/02/2013 4:25:59 PM PDT by Jim Robinson
Is he a natural-born citizen or isn’t he? The question has been a nagging part of Barack Obama’s life ever since his first presidential campaign. No amount of birth certificates and sworn statements from state officials in Hawaii, his birthplace, seemed capable of putting the issue to rest. The “birther” movement continues pressing the question even today, five years after Obama’s election to the presidency.
The question nags anew, but this time Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz is the focus because he was born in Canada to an American mother and Cuban father. By law, his mother’s U.S. citizenship automatically confers natural citizenship to Cruz, just as — for those who continue to doubt the location of Obama’s birth — the citizenship of Obama’s American mother conferred it to him.
When it became a hot-button issue in 2008, Democrats countered that Obama’s GOP opponent, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, was born to American parents at a U.S. military installation in the Panama Canal Zone. The implication being that if Republicans wanted to play the birther game, Democrats could, too.
This is such a nonissue, regardless of whether the candidate is Republican or Democrat. Nevertheless, narrow-minded individuals, including some prominent personalities such as billionaire former presidential contender Donald Trump, are doggedly trying to concoct controversy and introduce doubt where there should be none.
These men have been natural U.S. citizens from birth and have every right to seek the nation’s highest office. Article II of the Constitution sets out three eligibility requirements to be president: that the person be at least 35 years old, a resident within the United States for 14 years and a “natural-born citizen.”
(Excerpt) Read more at dallasnews.com ...
Okay, could you please link me to your source.
I’d like to read the report.
Actually, I didn’t give you a reference. I merely stated that the reports I read only referenced the mother. I also stated they did not make claims about her marital status.
Of course I believe in the constitution. Cruz was born to a qualified American mother while temporarily working in Canada. He meets all the legal requirements. Don’t know if that same standard can apply to Obama (if he was not born in the US). His mother does not qualify (according to some of the posts on these threads).
I’m still not convinced he wasn’t born in Kenya either. His grandmother says she attended the birth there. I believe the President or a high ranking official stated he was. There were signs in the village there about where he was born.
Nothing even close to that, that is valid has been presented to show where he was born in Hawaii. For a while there two hospitals were claiming he was born in them.
I may be remembering this incorrectly, but didn’t he himself first claim to have been born in one hospital there, and then change it?
Madison commented in his presidency that children born to citizens (citizen father automatically bestowed citizenship to the mother via marriage in that era) at sea or temporarily abroad were to be considered ‘natural born’.
The idea is that American citizens maintain a ‘domicile’ on US or US controlled/possessed soil and are able to maintain a ‘residence’ abroad. For purposes of immigration, ‘domicile’ and ‘residence’ are legally distinct terms.
It is clear the fact that Cruz was born in Canada does not render him ineligible to be president because his mother was there for work, not for immigration to Canada. In other words, her domicile was in the USA while her residence was temporarily in Canada.
Where Ted Cruz gets hung in this is that it was not his father who was an American citizen at the time of his birth nor was his father automatically bestowed with citizenship via marriage to his citizen mother.
What is needed is a new law or an amendment to existing law with retroactive and prospective provisions that clearly address the distinction between ‘natural born citizen’ versus ‘citizen by birth’. We know that all natural born citizens are citizens by birth but not the other way around. In set language, natural born citizens are a proper subset of citizens by birth; the requirements for natural born are stricter than those for citizen by birth.
Why was the bar for natural born set higher than that for citizen by birth?
It was John Jay’s letter to General George Washington that requested a higher bar for the presidency when the Constitution was being drafted and resulted in ‘natural born’ meaning ‘second generation’ as a requirement for the presidency.
John Jay was clearly concerned that a President as Commander-in-Chief must be loyal and have allegiance to the United States because a person with divided loyalties and muddled allegiance would have command of the Army and hence would be in a position to become a tyrant.
I am persuaded that Barack Obama has divided loyalties and muddled allegiance to the United States.
But with Cruz, it is clear he is American through and through in spirit, loyalty and allegiance.
BO has a birth certificate? Show me a paper copy.
“The only way NBC will be clarified is if ...”
The only way NBC will be clarified is if ... the Paleo-Birthers join forces with Martha Coakley, Attorney General of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts ... and disqualify somebody from the primary ballot or general election ballot in Massachusetts.
You can see that the Natural Born Paleo-Birthers have Natural Born Allies in the commie-Lawyers who like to file Federal Lawsuits.
You’re golden! And ready to run with it! The only question now is whether you meet the legal requirements to admitted to practice before the Supreme Court
COMPLETE CERTIFICATION ON FOLLOWING PAGE. Supreme Court of the
United States. APPLICATION FOR ADMISSION TO PRACTICE.
http://www.supremecourt.gov/bar/barapplication.pdf
if John Jay becomes Chief Justice in the next 3 years, this could get interesting.
BTW, Clarence Thomas goes on and on in his Official Opinions published by the Court ... about a lot of things. And, legally, they mean diddle-spit.
I agree with your conclusions, and appreciate the information provided. Thank you. Nice post.
Cruz was born on Canadian soil. this yields Canadian citizenship.
His mother is American and had spent more then 5 years after the age of 14 in the US. this yields his US citizenship
then there is his Dad. I believe he was still Cuban, potentially resulting in a Cuban claim
and of course, he could claim british citizenship as Canada is part of the UK
0bama’s only claim to US citizenship would be being born on the soil, as his mother was too young. of course, as his father was Kenyan, he can claim British by descent but not Kenyan unless he was born in that country.
this of course results in 0bama having multiple citizenship possibilities at birth... and therefore not a natural born citizen
Of course not. But that question is irrelevant if Cruz's dual or triple citizenship (US, Canada, Cuba) is an issue for his qualification as Commander in Chief of the US Armed Forces.
That’s old fashioned.../s
Which would be news to Canadians...
It won’t be. If Cruz runs, the law is pretty clear about his status.
The only argument anyone has against him is 3 words in the Constitution that aren’t defined, and those who object define it their own peculiar way without regard to contradictory historical and legal opinion.
Any citizenship conferred by any other country is irrelevant. The constitution says nary a word about it. All it says is “natural born citizen”.
Everything else is opinion. All of this fire and smoke is about a difference of opinion.
Well, I don’t know if Canada or Cuba claims him or not, but sounds like Cruz never claimed to be anything but American. And he is. A great one.
I read Cruz’ parents had lived in Canada for 4 years before his birth, and for 4 years after.
Cruz moved to the US when he was 4 years of age.
Ted Cruz Ping!
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