Posted on 01/16/2016 3:02:27 PM PST by BlackFemaleArmyColonel
Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz was born in Canada; he is not a "natural born citizen," and he is not eligible to be president.
And this is an issue that isn't going away, contrary to The Sacramento Bee's assertion, ("Trump's 'birther' lunacy, the sequel," Editorials, Jan. 7)
The Constitution is very precise: "No person except a natural born citizen ... shall be eligible to the office of President." The founders knew what they meant.
John Jay, later the first chief justice of the United States, wrote: "the commander in chief of the American army shall not be given to, nor devolve on, any but a natural born citizen." Later, one of the authors of the 14th Amendment, Rep. John Bingham of Ohio, wrote: "Who are natural born citizens but those born within the Republic?"
Congress has passed a statute that says if one of your parents is a U.S. citizen, you are an American citizen, too, no matter where you were born. Cruz's mother was born in Delaware. That makes him a "citizen" by statute, but not a "natural born citizen" within the meaning of the Constitution.
If both of Cruz's parents had been American-born, Cruz would have a stronger case. However, his father was born in Cuba.
Every other president and presidential candidate in our history was born either within the United States or one of its possessions. At no time ever was Calgary, Canada, where Cruz was born in 1970, a U.S. possession.
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
See Rogers v. Bellei, 401 U.S. 815 (1971), which applies the statute you cite (technially, its predecessor, but same principle).
Bellei was born in Italy to a US citizen mother and Italian father. He was a citizen-at-birth. The law at the time had an additional condition. Bellei had to reside in the US for some amount of time before the age of some age, or he'd lose his citizenship. He lost his citizenship and sued to get it back.
Now, if Bellei was an NBC, this suit would not exist. Congress can't take citizenship away from an NBC.
And right here, in this case, we find phrases like the following:
7. Neither are we persuaded that a condition subsequent in this area impresses one with "second-class citizenship." That cliche is too handy and too easy, and, like most cliches, can be misleading. That the condition subsequent may be beneficial is apparent in the light of the conceded fact that citizenship to this plaintiff was fully deniable. The proper emphasis is on what the statute permits him to gain from the possible starting point of noncitizenship, not on what he claims to lose from the possible starting point of full citizenship to which he has no constitutional right in the first place. His citizenship, while it lasts, although conditional, is not "second-class." ...citizenship to this plaintiff was fully deniable. [meaning at birth]...
Bellei was not "born . . . in the United States," but he was, constitutionally speaking, "naturalized in the United States." Although those Americans who acquire their citizenship under statutes conferring citizenship on the foreign-born children of citizens are not popularly thought of as naturalized citizens, the use of the word "naturalize" in this way has a considerable constitutional history. Congress is empowered by the Constitution to "establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization," Art. I, S: 8. Anyone acquiring citizenship solely under the exercise of this power is, constitutionally speaking, a naturalized citizen. ...
However, the clearest expression of the idea that Bellei and others similarly situated should for constitutional purposes be considered as naturalized citizens is to be found in United States v. Wong Kim Ark, 169 U. S. 649 (1898) ...
Bellei, as a naturalized American, is entitled to all the rights and privileges of American citizenship, including the right to keep his citizenship until he voluntarily renounces or relinquishes it. ...
In the light of the complete lack of rational basis for distinguishing among citizens whose naturalization was carried out within the physical bounds of the United States, and those, like Bellei, who may be naturalized overseas, the conclusion is compelled that the reference in the Fourteenth Amendment to persons "born or naturalized in the United States" includes those naturalized through operation of an Act of Congress, wherever they may be at the time.
“I read somewhere that Cruz didn’t get his US citizenship until he was 15 months old. (haven’t seen more than one source, so can’t be sure it’s true) Can’t figure out how that’s a natural born citizen.”
I read several places that Ted was four when they moved to the USA, so he couldn’t have gotten it before that. I’ve never seen any document produced that shows he is a US Citizen or ‘natural born’. If so, I wish someone would post it. He said he didn’t know he held Canadian citizenship until 2014, so how did he get into Harvard, etc.(But then, Barry did too! lol) I had to show my USA issued Birth certificate to enroll in school.
Cruz was born in 1970 in Canada. The family lived in Calgary’s St. Andrews Heights neighborhood and later the affluent Elbow Park neighborhood[5] until his father suddenly abandoned the family and moved to Texas in 1974.[15] Cruz and his mother moved into a townhouse complex in the southeast suburbs of Calgary and later in 1974 Cruz’s father, who had joined a Baptist Bible study, reconciled with Cruz’s mother and the family relocated to Houston.
His father left Cuba in 1957 to attend the University of Texas at Austin, obtained political asylum in the United States after his four-year student visa expired.[18] Rafael Cruz obtained Canadian citizenship in 1973[5] and ultimately became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2005.[8][19][20][21] His mother earned an undergraduate degree in mathematics from Rice University in the 1950s.[22] Eleanor and Rafael Cruz divorced in 1997.[23]
Cruz had two older half-sisters from his father’s previous marriage, Miriam Ceferina Cruz and Roxana Lourdes Cruz. Miriam, who had several brushes with the law during the 1990s and 2000s including charges of theft and public intoxication, died of a prescription drug overdose on January 10, 2011. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Cruz
It must be an election year. There are trolls posing as conservatives everywhere.
Not in the constitution, but party rules and election laws (of each state) include some of certification of eligibility.
A great number of party hacks and election officials are enabling this attempted fraud on the public.
Why won’t Cruz release his CRBA and his passport.
We need a president with an American-sounding name.
Well, if you can show me where that is codified in law, I'm all ears.
Again, if a person is Natural Born, why would he she need a statute or law professing so?
Natural born is unimpeachable, it is a state of circumstance needing no law or man made interference.
Cruz is a CITIZEN by statute, not Natural Law.
If Cruz were born to two Citizen parents on the soil of the US, could this even be an argument?
No.
In your words, case closed.
PS, Cruz still has my vote should he be the nominee, but facts are facts.
In a state that requires an affidavit of eligibility he would not be allowed on the ballot.
You're a birther now! Welcome to the fraternity.
Obama is not a NBC. Congress is derelict, and subversive of the Constitution. Obama's disqualification is a little harder to "prove," not quite as convincing. Cruz's case is resolved "he's naturalized" no matter how you look at it, unless you adopt some popular (but to a lawyer, easily know to be false) assumptions, like "naturalization is a process you have to apply for and complete", and "if you don't go through that process, you are a NBC".
“Hey, BlackFemaleArmyCaptain, you are clearly using Google to find any and every local article on this. give it a rest. Trump is a loser, and so are you.”
HA! As if Cruzers don’t do this about 150 times a day!
Bless you, BlackFemaleArmyCaptain - KEEP IT UP! (Particularly since it annoys them).
:-)
I think there is a chance that Trump triggers a renaissance. Slim chance, to be sure. The rot runs deep and wide.
This will in all likelihood go before the Supreme Court, and I think I know how Sotomayor, Breyer, Kagan, Kennedy, and Ginsberg will vote on this issue if it goes before them after Cruz is elected President.
Now that's usin' yer noggin.
But the Constitution requires you be 35 years old.
States cannot override the Constitutional requirements set forth for POTUS, Senators or Representatives.....otherwise, why have a Constitution at all?
+1,000,000
Nobody would pull the birther card on Jeb, because Jeb can't win and isn't taking many votes out of the vote pool.
The eligibility question only matters for people with a real shot.
Totally agree, our courts have been compromised like our government.
Don’t get your point.
The Constitution says nothing about requirements to run, only to serve.
State could allow anyone to run if it wants- maybe as a ‘Freedom of Speech’ thing LOL!
At which time do they do this?
During the primary, or the general? I am not sure.
At any rate, it would seem at such time that a SOS could object at the time that certification is submitted if they were so inclined.
What if said candidate is only 30 years old?
A Senator must be 30 years of age (Article I sec. 3), and if memory serves, Joseph Biden ran for the office when he was 29 and was seated when he was 30. Nice to have an element of eligibility which is a function of time only.
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