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.
Keep dreaming.....
You are only reading part of it and stopping right there.
You have to read the entire part and not only half of it and stopping. Haha!
Intentionally ignoring the military and diplomatic part hoping it will just go away will not work.
Just admit it you know I’m right. I know you do deep down inside.
It’s just like you keep thinking that the DNC along with GOPe will not shop a federal judge to disqualify Cruz. Even though they said they would. You Cruzbots need to think more than 1 step ahead.
Yawn....neither Dem nor Repub Party leaders cared about electing an Ethiopian with a forged birth certificate...so why start caring now? The people dumping on Cruz have been fine with Obama as even less eligible. Hypocrites!
You are still missing the point of Article 1 Section 8. There is NO LIMIT ON THIS AUTHORITY other than Article 4 Section 2 and the 14th Amendment which was pass long after the founders wrote the Constitution.
If you believe other wise, then show via the Constitution where this authority is limited.
“You have to read the entire part “
I read the requirements in the Constitution. Anything after that, is moot.
So you agree that it would be up to the Supreme Court to decide the question of the eligibility of Senator Cruz to be President but that, unless it were a unanimous opinion, it would be “political.” How does that make Senator Cruz a good choice for the Republican nomination? From what you say if a split decision found him not eligible it would be “political” but he would still have to obey it.
No it’s the law, and the law says his mother had to be in the U.S Military or a Diplomat in order for Cruz to be a Citizen.
She was neither. You can pretend all you want, but that’s not what the law reads or the facts. Dream on....
Neither that clause nor the 14th Amendment have anything to do with the Article II presidential eligibility phrasing. You are exhibiting complete inexperience with and knowledge of these matters.
Neither that clause nor the 14th Amendment have anything to do with the Article II presidential eligibility phrasing. "[N]aturalization" in Article I is a process completely unconnected with the "natural born citizen" presidential eligibility clause in Article II. You are exhibiting complete inexperience with and a lack of knowledge of these matters.
Congress' power to naturalize is unlimited, period.
The naturalization power is referred to in the second part of the first sentence of the 14th amendment, but the power to naturalize is not conferred there.
Art IV, Sec. 2 (citizen of a state) is not about naturalization - those persons are citizens without being naturalized.
The first part of the first sentence of the 14th amendment recites, in part, "born in the US ... and subject to the jurisdiction." Those persons are not naturalized either.
“So you agree that it would be up to the Supreme Court to decide the question of the eligibility of Senator Cruz to be President”
No, I assume the Supreme Court should attempt to define a Natural Born Citizen. Then the question wouldn’t be revisited with every foreign candidate that comes along. But, if the decision is not 9-0, then it becomes a political decision and the question will still not be settled.
You might be interested in learning that all three of these "sure losers," to a man, all loathe and dislike Cruz, claiming he's the "sure loser! "
Very interesting indeed, three GOP former primary "winners" who were themselves,"sure losers," warn us away from Cruz.
Not only that, but another "sure loser," former Democrat President Jimmy Carter, also warns us against Cruz!
“She was neither. You can pretend all you want”
You must be answering someone else. I know what a Natural Born Citizen is, and Cruz and Rubio are not one of them.
Yes, of course, such are citizens, but not “natural born citizens” within the intendment of the Article II eligibility phrasing. The 1802 act followed on from the 1795 act in this matter.
Bullshit. By your “logic” children born to US military stationed overseas are not “natural born citizens.”
Oh really...Hot Air thinks it and it alones knows what it “most plausible”??
Arrogant, ain’t they?
Even if Cruz was born in Mars and raised in deep space, he would STILL be a Natural Born Citizen of the United States! The only way to prove he is not a Natural Born citizen is to prove that his mother was not born in the US.
Ironically, Trump’s mother was not born in the US. It is okay, however, Trump is a NBC because (among other things), his pa was born in the US.
That’s what I believe too.
Applies to those only whose parents were citizens....
How can Cruz claim his mother...and the father....doesn’t matter.
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