If you were a citizen at the time of the adoption of the constitution you didn't have to be natural born.
I thought Cruz was supposed to be a defender of the constitution. Why are his supporters coming up with all of these frivolous arguments to defend his ineligibility?
The first 8 where “grandfathered in” by the Constitution BECAUSE the country was at its nexus. But of course the Framers wanted PURE citizens to be presidents afterwards. They DIDN’T say “only citizens” can be president, they said “only special citizens” can be president. There is NOTHING special about Cruz’s citizenship. Special citizenship was understood to be pure, unassailable, unquestionable, and NON-foreign. The FACT that Cruz’s eligibility is be questioned points to the OBVIOUSNESS of its inferiority to others. There are millions of natural born citizens in the country. Obama is not one, Cruz is not one, Rubio is not one. All of my life it was COMPLETELY UNDERSTOOD that to be president you had to be born in AMERICA. Why have we walked this back? Why the desire to challenge the wisdom of the Founders? It is mind-boggling.
they were citizens at the time of the adoption of the constitution dumba55.
In his emails to the Guardian, Tribe discussed Cruz’s own approach to constitutional issues, noting that under “the kind of judge Cruz says he admires and would appoint to the supreme court - an ‘originalist’ who claims to be bound by the historical meaning of the constitution’s terms at the time of their adoption - Cruz wouldn’t be eligible because the legal principles that prevailed in the 1780s and 90s required that someone be born on US soil to be a ‘natural born’ citizen.”
He added: “Even having two US parents wouldn’t suffice for a genuine originalist. And having just an American mother, as Cruz did, would clearly have been insufficient at a time that made patrilineal descent decisive.
“On the other hand, to the kind of judge that I admire and Cruz abhors - a ‘living constitutionalist’ who believes that the constitution’s meaning evolves with the needs of the time - Cruz would ironically be eligible because it no longer makes sense to be bound by so narrow and strict a definition.”
Tribe said: “There is no single, settled answer. And our supreme court has never addressed the issue.”
How embarrassing for you to post this pathetic and beyond clueless defense of Cruz.
Didn’t WND lead the charge against Obama being born in Kenya? This is a really really stupid article.
“Cruz would ironically be eligible because it no longer makes sense to be bound by so narrow and strict a definition.”
If it no longer makes sense, then amend the Constitution.
Um...the Founders *specifically* included a grandfather clause specifying that those who were US citizens *at the time of the adoption of the Constitution* were eligible.
Hence, dumb Cruz-supporter argument is completely, utterly destroyed.
Really, you’d think that the people following the supposedly “constitutionalist” candidate wouldn’t fall for such simple and easy-to-refute arguments.
birthers bought them upon themselves by saying one has to be born in the US on US soil and both parents must be US presidents. Wanna go down that silly path this is the result
Just to inform others that he might be impartial and that his reasoning might be compromised by said impartiality.
BTW, the author should be aware that Canada has its own slightly modified version of football.
And by the way, the Framers did not typically offer vague notions that were adjustable to fit the desires of one group today, another group tomorrow. Cruz was born a citizen by statute. To explain, because some people need explanation, he is only a citizen because of congressional action. Without this action he would be a foreigner, and not a citizen of any sort. Natural born citizens need no statute. The day they are born they are citizens NATURALLY because they were born of citizen parents in the country.
Selective Conservatism: Bitch and moan about a Kenyan’s ineligibility long enough until a Canadian is available.
If you have to be born on the soil to two US citizens, then Obama is ineligible even if he WAS born in HI. This is obviously not the standard which is in use. Obviously, one citizen parent will suffice.
Wow I expect better from WND. Pathetic.
Seriously? What do you think the 1790 Naturalization act was FOR?
You really scraped the bottom of the barrel to post this articel.
First of all, it was the forst SEVEN Presidents who were grandfathered in, not eight.
Martin Van Buren, the 8th President, was the first natural born President. He was born in the country in 1782 of two American citizen parents.
Second, the author cites English common law, which was not the standard used for the Constitution. Common law of England has to do with the King and the relation of subjects to the King.
The Founders used Vattel, a French author fo the Law of Nations. The Founders had just fought a war with England and were not going to have a monarchy in any shape or form. They were the first to establish a nation without a king or queen as its head.
Third, the author conflates the terms natural born citizen and citizen as if they is no difference.
Fourth, the author shows his ignorance of the McCain situation. McCain was born of two American parents while his father was serving in the military. According To Vattel, McCain’s dad was in the service of his country, which made McCain a natural born citizen, whether McCain was born in Brooklyn or in Antarctica.
Fifth, the author does not explain how Cruz was born the citizen of three different countries, and at birth, was equally a citizen of all three. There is no logic in the world that can explain that away to leave Cruz the natural born citizen of just one of them.
Sixth, the author deliberately misconstrued what Congress does in passing an act of naturalization. The rules of naturalization are by the Constitution, given to Congress alone to determine. Congress sets the rules, including the status of those born overseas to a citizen, citizens, aliens, or a citizen and an alien. If Congress has to set the rule by which your citizenship is determined, then you are naturalized, not natural born.
Not only is the author uninformed, he deliberately uses his ignorance to misinform others. He tries to cloak his misinformation by making fun of those who question Cruz’s eligibility as ignorant, yahoos, and bitter clingers.
He just insulted more Americans than Ted Cruz has.
Even if one having only one parent can make you natural born, than using Vattel and Minor v. Happensett, it is clear that place also plays a role in the definition.
Even with his HI birth certificate, real or not has not bee determined in court, Obama pretends at least to have been born in the country. Ted Cruz can not even make that claim.
Ted is an American citizen by virtue of his mother’s American citizenship. But a citizen is not the same as a natural born citizen, otherwise the words natural born would not be in the qualifications for President. Since a citizen, with no qualifier to the term, can be a Senator or a Congressman there has to be a distinction.
Ted Cruz is recognized as a natural born citizen of Canada according to the Canadian Citizenship Act of 1946.
He is also subject to the claims of Cuba,as his father was a Cuban citizen at the time of his birth. None of this appears in the article.
The purpose of the natural born term being entered in the Constitution has provenance, being requested in writing to George Washington by John Jay, who would become the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. The reason is that the Founders knew the President was also the Commander in Chief of the military, and there is only one such person with that power, while there would be more and more Congressmen and Senators as the country expanded.
It was imperative that this Commander in Chief have the highest degree of allegiance to America as the Founders could devise.
Cruz is so fixed on being President that he would willingly risk a Constitutional crisis to become one.
For a constitutional expert, that is baffling.
If Cruz is elected, we will need a passport to visit his childhood home and place of birth.
After that, the door to the presidency is wide open to every country on the planet, as long as you can prove you share some DNA with an American.
Born of US citizens on US soil. These are the natives or natural born citizens. They are natural because they can be nothing else, but pure Americans.
Check out post 17, Cruz’s citizenship is well laid out. Constitutional in origin.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3381875/posts
Stupidest article ever.
And Matt Barber is usually a reasonably intelligent fellow.
Elections cut the national IQ at least in half, I swear.