Posted on 02/18/2016 5:51:48 AM PST by GregNH
GOP presidential candidate Ted Cruz should recuse himself in any future Senate Judiciary Committee vote on a nominee to replace Antonin Scalia, according to a law professor’s op-ed.
Cruz has a conflict of interest because of questions surrounding his eligibility to serve as president, according to the CNN op-ed by Northwestern University law professor Steven Lubet. Cruz is the only remaining GOP presidential contender with a seat on the committee.
(Excerpt) Read more at abajournal.com ...
We would probably agree that a liberal court would more likely find both O and Cruz to be NBC's. It is also likely candidate Sen. Cruz would vote against a liberal nominee and be, in essence, voting against his interest.
Likewise, if he is the successful candidate one wonders if he would nominate a conservative who understood the history and context in which the founders used the term NBC?
The salient difference, however, is that Obama’s mother did not have sufficient time in the US above the age of majority to confer citizenship at birth if he was born outside of the US. Hence, the ‘Kenyan’ story disappeared.
More likely, a judge selected with the backing of Ted Cruz would recuse themselves if the case ever reached the Supreme Court.
By ignoring the NBC issue we set a precedent that becomes defacto law. We need an NBC ruling while Obama is still in office. Unfortunately.....
There are Senate (and House) ethical rules regarding conflicts of interest. So the general principle being asserted is legitimate. But those rules as presently written pertain mainly to advancing or passing legislation that benefits the legislator financially. (For the same reason, Presidents or candidates have put their assets into "blind" trusts to guard against the perception they may take action knowing it will benefit them personally.)
Though, as the article notes, Senate rules at present don't clearly address the situation Cruz would face in his role on the Judiciary Committee. So there would be no actual requirement for Cruz to limit his participation.
If there were an actual case involving Cruz within the federal courts that was pending or likely to come before the SCOTUS the pressure for Cruz to recuse himself, at least from his Committee role, might be stronger. But that isn't likely to be the situation.
“Cruz is eligible to be a Senator.”
Evidently he may not be eligible to be a U.S. Senator either, if he failed to naturalize as an immigrant after age 18 in 1988. See:
66 Stat. Public Law 414 -— June 27, 1952
CHILD BORN OUTSIDE OF THE UNITED STATES OF ONE ALIEN AND ONE CITIZEN PARENT AT TIME OF BIRTH; CONDITIONS UNDER WHICH CITIZENSHIP AUTOMATICALLY ACQUIRED
Sec. 320. (a) A child born outside of the United States, one of whose parents at the time of the child’s birth was an alien and the other of whose parents then was and never thereafter ceased to be a citizen of the United States, shall, if such alien parent is naturalized, become a citizen of the United States, when -—
(1) such naturalization takes place while such child is under the age of sixteen years; and
(2) such child is residing in the United States pursuant to a lawful admission for permanent residence at the time of naturalization or thereafter and begins to reside permanently in the United States while under the age of sixteen years.
Ted Cruz was born outside of the United States in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. His father at the time of birth of Ted Cruz on 22 December 1970 was an alien in relation to the United States, having Cuban citizenship and Canadian Permanent Resident status on the path to Canadian citizenship afterwards. Ted Cruz attained the age of sixteen years on 22 December 1986, at which time his alien father was a Canadian citizen and was not naturalized as a U.S. citizen. Accordingly, Ted Cruz did not meet the conditions necessary to “become a citizen of the United States” as required by Public Law 414 Section 320 CHILD BORN OUTSIDE OF THE UNITED STATES OF ONE ALIEN AND ONE CITIZEN PARENT AT TIME OF BIRTH; CONDITIONS UNDER WHICH CITIZENSHIP AUTOMATICALLY ACQUIRED.
The reason it hasn't been an issue is that the claim in your first sentence isn't true.
In the event he acquired his U.S. Passport by fraudulent misrepresentations, it can be revoked and his U.S. citizenship would become invalidated, regardless of claims about naturalized versus natural born citizenship.
“The reason it hasn’t been an issue is that the claim in your first sentence isn’t true.”
Barack Hussein Obama was responsible for causing a promotional literature to be repeatedly published from 1991 to 2007 stating he was “born in Kenya and raised in Indonesia and Hawaii.” So, you are denying what he had published without corrections for 16 years, and right up until the time he began to campaign for POTUS. Only then did he change his biography to fit the new narrative.
“If the government doesn’t look into Obama’s birth, it seems like fair play would be to leave Cruz alone.”
Precedent in law does not work that way. Just because someone else was permitted to speed at 140mph down the highway and kill a person in a hit and run accident does not mean you will be permitted to go through a speed trap on the highway at 85mph in a 55mph speed limit zone without being punished with citation and fine for speeding.
It was in his campaign literature. I’m not sure where you have been, but the image of it has been posted on this site numerous times.
Actually, in that case while he may have his passport revoked, more would be required to for citizenship to be forfeited. There are many who are citizens who don't hold valid passports.
Though the conditional nature of your statement begs the question: to obtain a passport he would have needed to submit documentation attesting he was a citizen. Obviously, the passport agency found the documentation submitted to be valid.
Like Obama, Ted Cruz may also not have been a lawful U.S. citizen and may still not be eligible to be a lawful U.S. Senator, if he failed to naturalize as an immigrant after age 18 in 1988. See:
66 Stat. Public Law 414 -— June 27, 1952
CHILD BORN OUTSIDE OF THE UNITED STATES OF ONE ALIEN AND ONE CITIZEN PARENT AT TIME OF BIRTH; CONDITIONS UNDER WHICH CITIZENSHIP AUTOMATICALLY ACQUIRED
Sec. 320. (a) A child born outside of the United States, one of whose parents at the time of the child’s birth was an alien and the other of whose parents then was and never thereafter ceased to be a citizen of the United States, shall, if such alien parent is naturalized, become a citizen of the United States, when -
(1) such naturalization takes place while such child is under the age of sixteen years; and
(2) such child is residing in the United States pursuant to a lawful admission for permanent residence at the time of naturalization or thereafter and begins to reside permanently in the United States while under the age of sixteen years.
Ted Cruz was born outside of the United States in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. His father at the time of birth of Ted Cruz on 22 December 1970 was an alien in relation to the United States, having Cuban citizenship and Canadian Permanent Resident status on the path to Canadian citizenship afterwards. Ted Cruz attained the age of sixteen years on 22 December 1986, at which time his alien father was a Canadian citizen and was not naturalized as a U.S. citizen. Accordingly, Ted Cruz did not meet the conditions necessary to “become a citizen of the United States” as required by Public Law 414 Section 320 CHILD BORN OUTSIDE OF THE UNITED STATES OF ONE ALIEN AND ONE CITIZEN PARENT AT TIME OF BIRTH; CONDITIONS UNDER WHICH CITIZENSHIP AUTOMATICALLY ACQUIRED.
No such claim in his campaign literature existed.
I'm not sure where you have been,
I've been right here all along -- in the world where people's certain memories are often shown to be faulty.
You have been here all along, from 2013. You were not posting under your current screen name when the literature referenced was circulating. I guess you missed it, but since you assert it does not exist, prove it.
The point I was making was that people often have faulty memories.
I guess you missed it, but since you assert it does not exist, prove it.
I can't be expected prove a negative. The burden rests on the claimant. If you claim there was "campaign literature" issued by Obama (or his campaign) stating he was born in Kenya, it's your assertion to validate. Recollection is not proof.
My position here is yours is a classic case of false recollection.
You are confusing and conflating wholly different reasons for the revocation of a U.S. Passport. The U.S. Supreme Court struck down statutes which caused the loss of U.S. citizenship due to acts of expatriation and failures to satisfy residency requirements, so the statutes for Immigration and Naturalization were revised to reflect those U.S. Supreme Court decisions. Revocation of a U.S. Passport due to fraudulent misrepresentations of material fact is unrelated to the expatriation ruled upon by the U.S. Supreme Court and remains very much in effect today. Recent examples of such revocations of a U.S. Passport include the former NAZI war criminals. In the case of Ted Cruz the quoted statute clearly requires the father to have naturalized as a U.S. citizen before the child could qualify for automatic U.S. citizenship to be transmitted from a U.S. citizen mother. Ted Cruz is therefore not a U.S. citizen, naturalized or natural born, unless he naturalized as a U.S. citizen after reaching the age of majority.
The Vetting – Exclusive – Obama’s Literary Agent in 1991 Booklet: ‘Born in Kenya and raised in Indonesia and Hawaii’
Joel B. Pollak17 May 2012
Breitbart News has obtained a promotional booklet produced in 1991 by Barack Obama’s then-literary agency, Acton & Dystel, which touts Obama as “born in Kenya and raised in Indonesia and Hawaii.â€
“No such claim in his campaign literature existed.”
On the contrary, the quotation comes from numerous pieces of promotional literature, including the 1991 publication in which it said:
Barack Hussein Obama, the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review, was born in Kenya and raised in Indonesia and Hawaii.
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