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"I think the courts will dodge it. No matter which way they rule, it hurts them. I would be shocked if they took it.

If they took it up and followed precedent, Cruz is naturalized. That is easy to see, to a person who has studied the precedents. It's by far the clearest, easiest case I've ever studied. This is settled law. Against Cruz."

Agreed. It seems the Court do all they can to avoid the citizenship issue.

I also agree this will probably finish Cruz. It's hard to want a return to constitutional principles and support someone whose candidacy is in direct contradiction.

One caveat is that the Court will dodge the issue at least until the presumptive nominee is selected, very likely until the next POTUS is seated, and quite possibly not until well after that. The Court as a rule attempts not to influence future events, and only adjudicates "post facto". The "damages" must have already occurred. And, to be blunt, they have a history of ducking this issue to the point of dereliction of duty.

As such, I do believe Cruz could be seated as POTUS prior to Court deliberation. And I would expect the deliberation to be quite drawn out, if only based on the threads of discussion here at FR. Following deliberation, Cruz would either enjoy the support of Court reasoning, or be deemed ineligible. And ineligibility at that point opens him up to impeachment, for which we've seen the Congress has little stomach. I' say his term would be secure.

Chester Arthur was (allegedly) the first ineligible POTUS. Barack Obama was the second (allegedly) ineligible POTUS. And if Ted Cruz uses this conundrum to his advantage, if he signals to the People that he will use the influence of the Executive Branch as POTUS to encourage the Judicial Branch to put this issue to rest once and for all, and that until that time he is continuing his campaign "in good faith" that like Barack Obama he will be found eligible, then the conservative birthers (like myself) would stand down. Ted Cruz would gain the opportunity to be the last (allegedly) ineligible POTUS. On that course, I see a path to the Oval Office for him. Barring that, however, I think he is taking bad campaign advice and is sinking his own ship using the "nothing to see here" strategy. It's pretty clear there is definitely something to see; something particularly visible to the Constitutional scholar he is reported to be.