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.
Yawn.
One is NATURALLY a US citizen when one cannot be anything else.
Born here of citizen parents.
Natural born citizen.
Jeez, not this crap again.
They don’t care about the Constitution in this case. They just want their Teddy Bear. He is the only Consistent Conservative. ;-)
BINGO!
..bring a lawsuit then, and see what happens...
I’ll be sure to read this if I have trouble falling asleep tonight.
I’ll be sure to read this if I have trouble falling asleep tonight.
Lol, the cult is one trick pony.
Was his Mother a US Citizen? Yes.
Ergo, Ted is a US Citizen regardless of what hospital the event took place in.
You actually expect me to waste my time reading this? LOL. Good one.
Every time brought, every time ruled Cruz is eligible
They dont care about the Constitution in this case. They just want their Teddy Bear. He is the only Consistent Conservative. ;-)
Its almost like the Cruz supporters are YEARNING for 1964 all over again.
I mean, nostalgia is a great thing, but seriously folks, I am TIRED of nominating sure losers. Dole, McCain, Romney... ENOUGH ALREADY!
Oh? It’s been settled? Did some court rule on this?
Or is it “settled” because Cruz supporters want to ignore it?
This horse has been beaten to a bloody pulp.
So what happens if China declares Hillary a Chinese citizen by birth? Or what happens if Canada does have born on soil citizenship?
Fyi
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