And the McCain case is different in another way — he was born in Panama, but it was a military base thing; it is somewhat reasonable to treat foreign American military bases as if they are “U.S. Soil”, just as you would treat the Embassy as being born on U.S. soil.
The real issue is that the PURPOSE of having the rule makes little sense in regards to some of these particular cases.
The idea was that they wanted people who grew up in the United States, not people who lived their lives in another country and would be swayed by that country.
And when the country was founded, it would be highly unlikely any woman would be “vacationing” in a different country and have their baby. You really didn’t travel that much.
Today, anybody can hope in a plane, and be around the world tomorrow. And be back the next day.
Did Cruz live any significant time in Canada? Then I would argue he is ineligible by the intent of the constitution.
But certainly if someone was on vacation and had a child, and then brought the child home at the end of the vacation, I’d say that the INTENT of the constitutional law is met.
I also do think the congress would have the right, within limits, to define the parameters of “natural born citizen”.
The problem I had with the Obama questions is this — suppose a woman is single, and has a baby through a sperm bank.
Does that child then have to prove the father was an american citizen to be eligible for President? Some here would argue yes — that BOTH parents must by American. I’m not so sure. I don’t see where the intent (that you don’t have parents who have divided loyalties) would be an issue if the father was unknown.
Imagine if Ronald Reagan, the day before he was sworn in, we found out his mother had actually had an affair with a foreign actor, and Reagan was HIS son. Would he have then been ineligible? I think not.
When I was a baby I lived in a boiler shed.
That Don't make me a piece of coal or homeless.
It was a transitional time. My parents were building a house, they had allegiances to the neighborhood. Some asshole wagging his finger and saying you had no address at age 2 mos does not make me not an American.