Judge Nap: Cruz's American Citizenship Is Settled and Established

Fox ^ | 1/11/15 | Staff

[VinL]

Donald Trump continues to raise the issue of Sen.Ted Cruz's (R-Texas) American citizenship.

In a Fox News Sunday interview (below), Trump argued that the Canadian-born senator must "get this problem solved" before potentially running against a Democrat in the fall and facing a lawsuit.

"Does 'natural-born' mean born to the land, meaning born on the land? In that case, he's not. But nobody knows what it means because it hasn't been adjudicated and it hasn't gone to the Supreme Court," said Trump.

On America's Newsroom this morning, Fox News senior judicial analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano said that Cruz's American citizenship is "well-settled and established" under a law that goes back 100 years.

Napolitano said Cruz's citizenship cannot be questioned, since his mother was an American citizen when he was born.

"A human being born in another country with at least one parent who is an American citizen, who lived in the United States for at least one year during the parent's life before the birth, is an American citizen. That is exactly Ted Cruz's situation. ... [He] is a natural-born American citizen," Napolitano explained.

He agreed with Martha MacCallum that the reason for bringing this up is "political," not legal, since many voters may not know the law.

Napolitano said Cruz could benefit from getting this cleared up now, rather than later. But he noted that Trump is correct that the Supreme Court has never reviewed the law "because the issue has never come up."

[dem bums]

To be fair, I think the person who called Trump a “constitutional scholar” was being sarcastic.

[AustinBill]

The courts (correctly) declined to touch this for a sitting president because any ruling had the potential to cause a Constitutional Crisis. There is no such danger with a candidate. The Republican's didn't make this an issue in 2008 (when they should have) because McCain was too concerned about his own NBC status (even though he was on far more solid ground) and the RNC feared the inevitable race card response.

The Democrats (especially Hillary) will have no such compunction. It will be litigated either during or after the election (a la Gore) and the courts will not be able to dodge it. So again, it's best for all to settle this now.

[Boardwalk]

Absolutely!

[nikos1121]

I really don’t think anyone wants to be president more than Trump. Carson certainly doesn’t. Cruz, I think it about 75% into this. Trump is the maniac in this regard. He wants it bad. He needs some new material.

[Kickass Conservative]

Now that Judge Napolitano has weighed in, the Democrats will drop their threat to File Suit. Thank Goodness. LOL

Go after the DemoncRats Vin, they are the ones that are going to make this an issue if Ted gets the Nomination, not Trump.

[abigkahuna]

So Tzfat, if Queen Noor of Jordan as an American citizen conferred NBC status upon her princelings, you are okay that the Princes of Arabia can successfully run for President here in the US because after all, they are NBC, correct? I mean, Queen Noor never formally renounced her American citizenship so she conferred NBC to her children...right? If its good enough for Sen. Cruz, of whom I support and would vote for, as well as Trump, then its good enough for the Princes of Arabia and Europe.

[RummyChick]

You cannot discount the fact that James Madison, architect of the 3 branches of govt, chaired a committee that took out the one and only definition we have ever seen for Natural Born Citizen. It was signed into law.

[Tzfat]

Why not sick Anita Trump on me?

I’ve dealt with loudmouthed New York braggers before.

[i_robot73]

Settled? Does he care to cite?

The Courts side-stepped it over 8 yrs ago when it SHOULD have been settled.

Now, they won’t touch it for all the tea in China, they’d NEVER give it a fair ruling. To do so could possibly rip the last 8 yrs from the roots (Oh, what a ‘legacy’ THAT would be *be still my heart*).

IMO, he’s giving ‘our side’ a black-eye. Even if it WAS, it’s not like the Courts haven’t been WRONG in the past...But, having 30sec. to make your case, saying its so doesn’t make it so.

Course, how does that saying go? Opinions like @ssholes...

Myself, I’m in the camp of better safe than sorry (IE: BOTH parents should be Citizens.); as much as I enjoy the race and SOME (most?) of his ideals/actions. I’d rather see/hear the best the two sides can bring out; I’m always open to change my opinion on the matter (as if that would make a difference).

[dem bums]

Now that Judge Napolitano has weighed in, the Democrats will drop their threat to File Suit. Thank Goodness. LOL

Who cares if the Democrats file suit? How many suits have been filed against Obama? Did it stop him? Slow him down? No. He assigned a lawyer (or a couple of lawyers) to handle the cases, and he moved on.

The same would be true of Cruz. He would have a couple of low-level attorneys handle the lawsuits (just like any nuisance suits filed against a Presidential candidate or President - and there are plenty of those, for every President), and move on.

[centurion316]

The courts have a bag full of excuses to use. They don’t want to touch this issue and they won’t. Remember, we are dealing with lawyers. My prediction is that this goes nowhere.

[VinL]

Read the article please.

[GeaugaRepublican]

When you strip everything away, that is the problem.

With modern mobility this issue is getting worse not better. Its actually great if you are a globalist.

The fight used to be conservative vs. liberal. The real fight is globalist vs. nationalist. No borders, no culture, no country. If you don’t fight for a country, what are you conserving?

[dem bums]

The first NBC-related lawsuits against Obama were filed before he was elected.

[cripplecreek]

Like playing ping pong against the drapes at this point.

[VinL]

That’s the issue-— Be like if ted Cruz were losing, and in desperation started talking about Donald’s divorces or affairs-— I’d be the first to say that Cruz should shut up and loss graciously, instead of slinging mud.

[CatherineofAragon]

"Whats amazing is these people probably admired Cruz a few months ago."

It's interesting to look at Cruz threads from 2013-14; some of them can be seen gushing over Ted, saying they can't wait to work for his campaign, raise money for him, etc.

2011 Trump threads are also illuminating. Some of his most ardent admirers posted some pretty scathing takedowns of him back then.

[CatherineofAragon]

Whew!

[Boardwalk]

Oh Canada!

[kabar]

Trump was citing comments that Laurence Tribe—a high-profile liberal constitutional law professor at Harvard who taught both Cruz and President Barack Obama among other high profile figures—recently told ABC News that he does not believe the natural born citizen question is “settled law.”

“I don’t agree that it’s ‘settled law,’” Tribe said. “The Supreme Court has never addressed the issue one way or the other, as I believe Ted ought to know.”

Tribe added that he personally believes Cruz is eligible, but that doesn’t mean it’s “settled law.”

“My own view as a constitutional scholar is that the better view — the one most consistent with the entire Constitution — is the broader definition, according to which Cruz would be eligible,” Tribe said, noting that he believes that a natural born citizen should include, as ABC News wrote, “anyone who is a U.S. citizen at birth and doesn’t need to be naturalized.”