Posted on 02/20/2016 8:52:39 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
Now Donald Trump is questioning Marco Rubio' eligibility for the presidency.
In a tweet Saturday, Trump shared a video of what appears to be an attorney making a bizarre case that not only Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who was born in Canada, but Rubio, whose parents immigranted from Cuba, is not eligible to become president.
In the tweet to his 6.3 million followers, Trump quoted a message sent to him by another Twitter user, who at the time appeared to have five followers: "@realDonaldTrump Mr. Trump...BOTH Cruz AND Rubio are ineligible to be POTUS! It's a SLAM DUNK CASE!! Check it!"
The tweet links to a video on the website of the Powdered Whig Society, a group that says it is dedicated "to the restoration and strict obedience to the United States Constitution."
The 12-minute video shows an unidentified woman who is purported to be a litigation attorney describe what it means to be a natural born citizen. She argues that both Rubio and Cruz are citizens, but not "natural born citizens" according to the Constitution, which says only natural born citizens may become president.
Rubio was born in Miami. That makes him a natural born U.S. citizen under the Constitution. But the unnamed woman in the video Trump posted says he is not a "naturalized citizen," because his citizenship is defined under Section 1 of the 14th Amendment. If not for this "man-made law," she says Rubio would have been born a "resident alien," the same status of his parents, both of whom were Cuban nationals.
The supposed attorney later goes on to call Congress using laws to change the original text of the Constitution as "ridiculous."
"In order to understand the genuine meaning of a text, we must use the definition the framer's use, otherwise texts become like Play-Doh. They mean whatever you want them to mean to get the outcome you want," she says.
Cruz, who was born in Canada to father who was a Cuban national and an American mother. Some legal scholars says that leaves his eligibility to run for president in question. But the supposed attorney makes a far more questionable case. She argues that when the Constitution was written, a woman's legal identity was subsumed into her husband's. That would also disqualify Cruz, she says, because it is necessary that he be born of a father who is a citizen.
When the Constitution was written in the 1780s, the purported attorney says all the framers knew what a natural born citizen was, using a definition provided in Swiss philosopher and legal expert Emerich de Vattel's book on political philosophy The Law of Nations. In it, she says, a child's status as a citizen is defined as being inherited from the father, and that it does not matter where the child is born.
Like his eye color, citizenship is "inherited by his parents, it's in his blood," she says. "Not an act of Congress."
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I was wondering when Trump was going to do this to Rubio. The problem is, Rubio cant take the heat like Cruz can and punch back.
hoosiermama, Johnny B. has a point. An amendment to the constitution is now part of the constitution. It supersedes any part that it addresses.
The 1790 act was promptly overturned by the 1795 act because it was stated poorly and allowed for the confusion you have illustrated.
I really think Cruz intimidates Trump.
I would pay to see a one on one debate with them. The more I observe this mess and the too many candidates on stage fiasco, the more I think Trump is one of the establishment wildcard candidates to stop Cruz.
Didn't you hear? It's from The Book of Oprah Chapter Two or more concisely, Two Oprah. Kim Kardashian said so, it was in People Magazine.
/Millenial mode>
Scalia said that to run for POTUS, not only the candidate, but the candidate’s parents must have been born in the USA? I think not. I am familiar with the Constitution, having studied it extensively in law school.
You interpretation is, frankly, tin foil hat stuff. It’s a novel way to slime one’s political opponents - claim they’re not eligible, and focus the discussion on that, engendering some doubt.
Trump is an over the top buffoon.
Trump is an Alan Grayson wannabe.
You do realize that Rubio’s parents were not US Citizens when he was born don't you?
Where in the language of the Constitution where natural born citizens are defined is it stated that children (posterity) of aliens are natural born? Not the 14th Amendment as that came nearly 100 years later, but the Constitution that was ratified in 1789, where are children of aliens listed as being part if the citizenry?
How do you think the framers meant this:
The Congress shall have Power To...establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization.?
Listen to the video. The amendment was referring to Citizenship Which is an entirely different animal than natural born citizen. Can’t you take the time to listen to an expert explain it to you. She goes in to great detail explaining it. Do yourself a favor before opening your mouth again. Open the video and listen to ALL of it
TSTA.*
*Too stupid to answer (the question that is).
As far as I’m concerned congress should stop passing laws. Period. When will we finally have enough laws so that everything will be perfect?
Trump is a populist and he is using popular arguments.
Would that not also have disqualified him for running for Senator as well? Did his opponent just not use it - seems unusual as disqualication seems to be the big politic trick for the last 20?
You win the thread prize!
Why did Obama fight so hard to say he was born in Hawaii if it didn’t matter where he was born
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