Posted on 02/03/2005 10:53:49 AM PST by RockinRight
Not saying it should. I was just curious as to the situation.
Children of U.S. citizens born overseas get a birth certificate from the Department of State. They are Americans. I have been through this process.
That goes without saying...
If you are born in a foreign country and your parents are US citizens, you have dual citizenship until you reach the age of majority. At that time you need to decide which country you desire to be a citizen of. I'm not sure if the rule applies if you are born on a US military base. If McCain was born in the Canal Zone, I believe that the rule would not apply, as it was American territory until recently.
At least this how I understood the rules worked back in my teens. I had several friends who were born overseas to US servicemen. The rules may have changed since then.
Yes, you are a US citizen if you are born to citizens, regardless of the country you are born in. However, if you are born in a foreign country you are NOT eligible to run for President.
US Military installations might be a different matter. But it is a fact that if your parents are on vacation in the Bahamas and you are born there, you can not run for President.
Picky picky.
I'm pretty sure it has to our military. ;-)
Little detail there.
That is incorrect. The exact opposite is true, you are eligible to run for President.
McCain was born in the Panama Canal Zone, and both his parents were U.S. citizens, so he is a U.S. citizen from birth, and thus a natural-born citizen for purposes of the Constitution.
And, the child is eligible to run for US president.
It appears that this "natural born" qualification clause has resulted in every American president having been born within the territory of the United States. But often, particular candidates' "natural born" status has been debatable.
In 1968, when Michigan Governor George Romney was running for the presidency, it was not absolutely clear if he qualified. He was born to American parents, in 1907, but they were living in Mexico at the time. His grandparents had left the United States in the late Nineteenth Century. In 1912, when Romney was five years old, his parents returned to the USA. As Romney's candidacy faded, so did the issue.
Again in 2000, when Senator John McCain was seeking the presidency, the issue arose. McCain was born in the Panama Canal Zone to American parents (his father was an admiral). That fact sent a few scholars digging into musty, and less than clear, U.S. Supreme Court rulings. None, however, are truly on point.
In fact, there are conflicting holdings that only further compound the problem of understanding this clause. United States v. Wong Kim Ark(1898) indicates that foreign born children of Americans are not natural born. But in contrast, Weedin v. Chin Bow (1927) holds that "at common law the children of our citizen born abroad were always natural born citizen from the standpoint of this government."
It is the consensus of scholars, however, that foreign born children of Americans are natural born citizens. And that would mean that Romney and McCain would certainly qualify.
There is also general agreement that no foreign-born person who becomes a "naturalized" citizen can become president under Article II, unless it is amended. This consensus means that Schwarzenegger and Granholm are out.
When it comes to "naturalized" citizens, the only continuing debate is whether such a person can serve as "acting president" under the presidential succession statute.
There are several things that should disqualify McCain from being President, and where he was born isn't one of them.
Panama Canal.......birth canal.....there's a pun here somewhere
It is much easier to disqualify Sen Loon because he was not "born" at all, as is required, but rather "hatched."
Barry got a little weird there at the end. His young new wife was a little lefty IIRC.
I still contend that if you are born in a foreign country (exempting US Military Facilities) that you can not run for President.
BTTT
I dunno, I heard that maybe he was born in Ireland. Owl, doesn't this disqualify him for other privilidges as well?
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