if you’re going to say the 14th amendment defines who is a citizen, then consider the wording:
“All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”
it does not mention people born of one or more parents outside the US.
strictly by the 14th Amendment, TCruz wouldn’t be a US citizen as he was not born in the country, but in canada.
However the law in the U.S. Code under the 14th Amendment expanded that definition. 8 USC 1401 is the law of the land and it has never been ruled to be unconstitutional.
If Ted Cruz makes a decision to run for president his political fate and the fact of his birth in Canada will be decided by the mechanisms of a republican form of government in the exact same way that Obama having a Kenyan father determined his fate:
(1) having to campaign for a full year and do reasonably well in more than twenty primay election debates and 53 primary elections and/or party caucuses to win the Republican Party nomination. Any opposing Republican primary candidate can raise the issue of his birth in Canada for Senator Cruz to be forced to address.
(2) he will have to clear placement on the states’ ballots by Chief Elections Officials, usually an elected Secretary of State, in 50 states plus the District of Columbia;
(3) Cruz will have to do reasonably well in three nationally televised presidential debates where opposing candidates can raise the issue;
(4) he will need to raise, at a minimum, half a billion dollars;
(5) he will need to capture at a minimum, 60 million popular votes from voters who will decide whether his birth in Canada disqualifies him from getting their vote;
(6) he must garner 270 Republican electors;
(7) he will have to have his electoral votes counted and certified by both Houses of Congress where any one Representative and any one Senator can submit to the President of the Senate (the Vice President) a written objection to his electors.
(8) He must have an official who is willing to administer the Oath of Office.
(9) and finally he will have to withstand any legal challenges to his eligibility that may be filed pre or post election (For example, Obama has had 226 original jurisdiction legal challenges to his eligibility; 93 state and federal appellate court rulings and 23 appeals to the Supreme Court of the United States for a total of 342 legal challenges).
If Ted Cruz survives all that, he can be President or Vice President.