[jospehm20]

In an honest hearing, I think Cruz would lose but the SCOTUS is good at going into weasel mode and avoiding their responsibilities. They would simply avoid making a decision until it was irrelevant.

[Cboldt]

I've thought about this alot, and can't conceive of a way for SCOTUS to weasel Cruz into being qualified, short of upending a huge body of immigration law. Plus, saving Cruz's bacon has the effect of SCOTUS writing NBC and jus soli out of the constitution, after 200+ years of applying the jus soli rule. That's different from hallucinating something in there, that isn't there. It's rejecting 100% of their precedent on the question, and single-handedly amending the constitution. I don;t thing the institution of SCOTUS is willing to take that hit.

They'll evade the issue, most likely. Might be tough, because I foresee some liberal judge seeing an opportunity to be a hero for the liberal cause, ordering a Secretary of State to remove Cruz's name from a ballot. It only takes one, and there will be literally hundreds of cases before this plays out.

[Cboldt]

Another though to maybe keep in mind. Cruz's candidacy is a spark that can elevate the meaning and function of the NBC clause in the mind of the public. Killing his candidacy off on eligibility grounds has to be decisive, and is best done when the people are focused on that issue.

I think it is best to have Cruz in the race, and for him to strongly resist attempts to disqualify him, even by procedural arguments. Awakening the public is hard, maybe impossible, but for it to have a chance, the debate has to become hot in the minds of a sufficient fraction of the public.