Posted on 01/09/2016 11:04:44 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States, at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that office who shall not have attained to the age of thirty-five years, and been fourteen years a resident within the United States.
-- U.S. Constitution, Article II, Section 1
It is easy to ignore the often-hateful blatherings of Donald Trump, but his questioning of Ted Cruz' eligibility to be president needs an answer. And that answer is a clear "yes."
Trump knows very well that Cruz is eligible, but in his desperation to stave off a surging Cruz candidacy The Donald will say anything.
Although he was born in Calgary, Canada in 1970, Ted Cruz is considered a "natural born" citizen of the United States because his mother was born in Delaware. His Cuban father was working in the Canadian oil fields when his son was born. Thus, the Texas senator was born a citizen of both the United States and Canada. He always has though of himself -- rightly -- as American, saying he didn't realize he had dual citizenship until it was pointed out by The Dallas Morning News in 2014. At that time, Cruz renounced his Canadian citizenship, although he could have kept it without endangering his eligibility to be America's president.
Despite claims by some Trump supporters -- who still are trying to prove that Barack Obama's birth in Hawaii of a Kenyan father and American mother makes him ineligible to be president -- Cruz does not hold a Canadian passport and, apparently, never has.
Two former Justice Department lawyers, in a Harvard Law Review article quoted in USA Today last March, said, "Despite the happenstance of a birth across the border, there is no question that Sen, Cruz has been a citizen from birth and is thus a 'natural born citizen' within the meaning of the Constitution,"
Neal Katyal, who was acting solicitor general in the Obama administration from May 2010 to June 2011, and Paul Clement, solicitor general from 2004 to 2008 in the George W. Bush administration, said, "As Congress has recognized since the Founding, a person born abroad to a U.S. citizen parent is generally a U.S. citizen from birth with no need for naturalization. And the phrase 'natural born citizen' in the Constitution encompasses all such citizens from birth.
"Thus, an individual born to a U.S. citizen parent -- whether in California or Canada or the Canal Zone -- is a U.S. citizen from birth and is fully eligible to serve as president if the people so choose."
Surely Trump knows he is wrong about Cruz' eligibility, so why bring it up. Quite simply, Trump knows his poll numbers are ephemeral, that he has garnered just about all the supporters he is going to get. As Republican voters get serious about the election, they will settle for more serious, far more qualified canidates, including, possibly, Ted Cruz. TheTeflon Don's non-stick surface is beginning to peel.
There are many reasons to vote for Ted Cruz for president, and probably just as many not to. Like all candidates, he asks us to accept him, warts and all.
Whatever you think about Ted Cruz, he is eligible to be president of the United States -- and has been for a decade since he turned 35.
The wording in later definitions of what is a U.S. citizen by birth pertains to citizenship. Where is the wording that says such citizenship describes a natural born citizen? I hope someone can get the wording that makes the connection.
Unfortunately there are a few plausible opinions on why he is not.
There will be a Federal Court case on this one that eventually reaches the USSC.
My prejudice is clear, I believe NBC is born to two US Citizens on US territory, whether Puerto Rico, Guam or a Air Force base on Kwajalein Atoll. And all the 50 states.
I'm old fashioned that way.
But, I don't believe that it's a legal opinion that will prevail.
It won’t be an issue because Cruz will not win the nomination.
Though I would be fine with it if he did, though I’m not convinced at all of his NBC status.
I’d rather see him as AG, and wind up on the supreme court.
If cruz being born in Canada is OK with everyone than why did we have the birther movement trying to prove Obama wasn’t eligible based on his supposed birth in kenya?
If and when he wins in Iowa things will change, perception-wise.
Because his mother was too young to confer citizenship. You don’t recall that detail? Cruz’s mother was old enough.
Not really. Iowa is not important anymore. Santorum and Huckabee won there and lost NH in 2012, 2008. Heck even Dole trounced H.W. there in 1998, totally meaningless.
I like Ted
But I confess I too have pondered the wording surrounding this
It has often made me think it required birth on US soil
State or territory or dependency
But the founders and subsequent wrote quite a bit on it that infers natural born means anyone deemed a citizen at birth without need of naturalization
Hence born to US citizens even abroad is still considered natural born
Barry was born in Arizona US territory and Queeg in the US Canal Zone
Cruz may be the first test but he’s on terra firma no doubt
First I’ve heard of that.
The issue was always where Obama was born.
Tell that to Dubya, Barack Obama and Jimmy Carter. Sweater Vest & Huckleberry didn’t have $100 million in their war chests to follow thru on their Iowa wins or solid ground games in the following states. Cruz does. See the difference?
If he was born in Kenya or Indonesia, his mother’s age would’ve determined his eligibility.
If the ham sandwich we have in there now is any indication, anyone could be.
“Trump knows very well that Cruz is eligible, ..”
Yes he does, and after this ultimate dirty political move, how can we trust ANYTHING Trump has said?
Again. It was always about where Obama was born, not about his mother’s ability to pass on citizenship
Again. It was always about where Obama was born, not about his mother’s ability to pass on citizenship
“There will be a Federal Court case on this one that eventually reaches the USSC. ....”
Will this be the same SCOTUS that gave us abortion, eminent domain, ruled Obamacare as legal, etc.. Count me someone who would be nervous about SCOTUS “judgment.”
Read section "7 FAM 1133.2-2 Original Provisions and Amendments to Section 301" in this State Department document: http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/86757.pdf).
...(a) The following shall be nationals and citizens of the United States at birth: (7) a person born outside the geographical limits of the United States and its outlying possessions of parents one of whom is an alien, and the other a citizen of the United States who, prior to the birth of such person, was physically present in the United States or its outlying possessions for a period or periods totaling not less than ten years, at least five of which were after attaining the age of fourteen years...
Obama's mother was eighteen when he was born. The requirement was for at least five years after age 14. She was one year too young to have conveyed her citizenship to her son if he had been born outside the United States.
The contention with Obama was that his mother was too young to confer citizenship under the law at the time. Thus, if he was born in Kenya, he would not be a citizen.
Of course, there were at least a couple of problems with this line of argument:
Shortly after Obama was elected, birferism took a strange turn away from the factual and towards the legal. (First argue the facts. But if the facts don't suffice, then argue the law.) The birfers were getting nowhere with the born-in-Kenya argument, so they instead tried to argue that NBC means more than citizen by birth (it doesn't). In this regard, they trotted out the theories of an obscure Swiss legal theorist, Emmerich de Vattel, in order to contend that NBC requires both parents to be American even if the kid is already American due to being born in Honolulu ...
Now the birfers are caught. To be consistent, they have to argue that Cruz is not a NBC, which position plays into the hands of the 'Rats and the GOPe. Consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds! They need to admit they were wrong all along and dissipate!
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