Posted on 02/10/2016 1:55:32 PM PST by drewh
With Ted Cruz the victor of the first contest of the GOP nominating calendar, we can no longer avoid the question mischievously posed by Donald Trump: Is Cruz ineligible to be president? Cruz was born in Canada to an American mother and a Cuban father. The Constitution says that only a “natural born citizen†can be president. Is Cruz a natural born citizen? (You may recall that before he attacked Cruz on this front, Trump spent months flogging a ludicrous version of this critique against President Obama, who was actually born in the United States, unlike Cruz.)
The words natural born citizen, and their original meaning at the time that this constitutional clause was crafted, go a long way to answering this question. In founding-era America, like today, a person could be a citizen by virtue of birth on American territory; a citizen by virtue of a statute that granted citizenship to him at birth; a “naturalized†citizen, meaning one who entered the country as an alien but later obtained citizenship via a process determined by law; and a foreigner.
A natural born citizen cannot be a foreigner. Foreigners are not citizens. A natural born citizen cannot be a person who was naturalized. Those people are not born citizens; they’re born aliens. Most important for the purposes of the Cruz question, a natural born citizen cannot be someone whose birth entitled him to citizenship because of a statute—in this case a statute that confers citizenship on a person born abroad to an American parent. In the 18th century, as now, the word natural meant “in the regular course of things.†Then, as now, almost all Americans obtained citizenship by birth in this country, not by birth to Americans abroad. The natural way to obtain citizenship, then, was (and is) by being born in this country. Because Cruz was not “natural bornâ€â€”not born in the United States—he is ineligible for the presidency, under the most plausible interpretation of the Constitution.
About as much of a citizen as Barak Obama, and he qualified... even though he was born in Kenya to an American woman and a Kenyan.
I’m beginning to see your point.
Mark Levin has ruled on it and he is the highest court in the land.
-— It is highly unlikely Cruz will be nominated. If nominated, his eligibility will be vociferously challenged -—
Not by Trump. He’s considering Cruz for VP.
Can we just stop with this shit?
Settled by who? Ted?
This is a diversion, and it is, as you adn your candidate know, utterly and completely false.
http://www.obamaconspiracy.org/2015/09/the-donald-says-ted-cruz-eligible-birthers-wail
Donald Trump said, to ABC news: “I hear it was checked out by every attorney and every which way and I understand Ted is in fine shape.”Â
That comment is classic Donald Trump, basing policy on rumors. Nevertheless, while I am sure that not every attorney has checked the eligibility of Ted Cruz, a number of courts and attorneys have suggested that US citizens at birth are natural born citizens for constitutional purposes, and that includes the Canadian-born Ted Cruz.
http://onpolitics.usatoday.com/2015/03/16/ted-cruz-natural-born-citizen-birthers/
Two former top Justice Department lawyers say there is “no question” Ted Cruz is eligible for the presidency, in a new Harvard Law Review article that seeks to put to rest any doubt about the Texas Republican.
“Despite the happenstance of a birth across the border, there is no question that Senator Cruz has been a citizen from birth and is thus a ‘natural born citizen’ within the meaning of the Constitution,” write Neal Katyal and Paul Clement in an article published March 11. “There are plenty of serious issues to debate in the upcoming presidential election cycle. The less time spent dealing with specious objections to candidate eligibility, the better.”
http://legalinsurrection.com/2016/01/will-courts-be-willing-to-settle-ted-cruz-eligibility/
Professor Jacobson has opined on the question of whether Ted Cruz qualifies to be president as a “natural born citizen.” The short answer is: he definitely does. However, as Professor Jacobson also indicated, that hasn’t stopped Trump from attempting to foster doubts in voters’ minds about it.
Back in September, at the height of the Trump/Cruz alliance, Trump now famously said of Cruz’s eligibility, “I hear it was checked out by every attorney and every which way and I understand Ted is in fine shape.” Oddly enough, not only have his feelings about suing Cruz changed since then, his feelings about Cruz personally have too. At the December debate, he declared that Cruz had a “wonderful” temperament after calling him a “Å“maniac” in Congress a few days later and catching flak for it on conservative talk radio. Watch below and you’ll find him dismissing Cruz as a nasty guy whom no one likes. What changed? I need to believe that true bromance is possible.
Correct...neither is Jindal or Haley...or Obama, for that matter.
Actually Trump said in a debate that he couldn’t consider Cruz unless the matter was settled first.
I think it may be better for Trump if Cruz stays in for awhile longer.
How so?
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Simple math. Trump benefits by the votes being spread around amongst the candidates. Trump gets the lion share & the others get what’s left. With more candidates there is less chance for voter to coalesce under one of them. With the possible exception of Carson...most of the candidates will stay in until Super Tuesday...this helps Trump big time in S.C., Nevada etc.
They ALL suck. Now we need to find the one who sucks least. Or is it the least suckie?
an Illinois court also said that gun bans are constitutional. So what?
he changed the subject when asked about it today. I don’t think he’s going to pick Ted. and he’s not a NBC and no other President in 226 years of American history has been born outside of this country.
That’s what I keep saying. Let the SCOTUS decide.
I do not know if he is eligible or not. Thankfully I don’t practice law.
What I do know is that Obama and Chester A Arthur fudged their birth records and became president. Cruz didn’t try. Either because of honesty, or the impossibility of the task. Heck George Romney was born in Mexico to Mormons who wanted to play legal squeak and tickle with multiple wives. He was considered natural born by most.
If you read the decision of the Illinois Ballot Commission you will see that it quite extraordinarily brief, a couple of sentences, after the finding that standing existed on three points. What is even more unusual, so far as its value as any kind of precedent, it does not cite a single piece of authority and consists of a mere unsupported conclusion. As precedent in would worthless in an actual court. The Illinois law indicates that an appeal lies directly from its decisions to the Clerk of the County Court and from there there lie several layers of appeal, including ultimately to the SCOTUS. Whether Joyce will take an appeal is not clear.
You did not just convince me to join you in subverting the constitution with Ted Cruz btw.
Doubtful.
Most people don't understand the topic well enough to make an educated decision. Romney was not illegible. He also wasn't POTUS.
Joyce said he is not taking an appeal. I did read the decision. It is simply summary, as in “summarily executed” without addressing arguments of innocence.
Says who?
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