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Marco Rubio is a Natural Born Citizen, just like John Fremont and Chester Arthur
Human Events ^ | April 26, 2012 | Michael Zak

Posted on 04/27/2012 8:24:47 AM PDT by vadum

According to the Constitution, to be eligible for the presidency (or vice presidency), a person must be a “natural born citizen” of the United States. The purpose of this restriction is to prevent a foreigner from becoming the nation’s chief executive.

How can people become U.S. citizens? There are just two ways; either they are born citizens or they become citizens later in life. In the first case, anyone who is a citizen by nature of his birth is a “natural born citizen.” In the second case, anyone who is a citizen of another country at birth, but is granted U.S. citizenship sometime afterward, is a naturalized citizen.

For example, John McCain, though born in Panama, is eligible for the presidency, because he became a citizen at birth. Similarly, had Gen. George Meade sought the presidency, he would have been eligible because, though born in Spain, he was a U.S. citizen by nature of his birth. Any non-naturalized U.S. citizen over the age of thirty-five with fourteen years of residence can be President of the United States.

Sadly, this common-sense, logical approach does not dissuade some conservative pundits from inventing a new constitutional requirement for the presidency. Despite the plain meaning of the text, they claim that, to be eligible, a person’s parents must also be U.S. citizens. A few even assert that one’s parents must also be natural born citizens. I’ll spare you a recitation of their nonsense about “native born” or Emerich de Vattel or whatnot. Finding things in the Constitution that are not there is for Democrats!

Now that Mitt Romney has become the presumptive Republican nominee, there is speculation that the junior senator from Florida will be his running mate. Marco Rubio’s parents were from Cuba and did not become U.S. citizens until he was four years old. Voices from the fringe are claiming that this means Rubio is not eligible – and they’re wrong.

Marco Rubio was born is Miami, Florida. He is, therefore, a natural born citizen of the United States. Per the Constitution, the citizenship status of his parents (or grandparents or anyone but himself) is irrelevant.

Let’s look at U.S. political history for more proof. Were there other instances of a presidential or vice presidential nominee with a foreign-born parent? You betcha!

The first presidential nominee of the Republican Party, in 1856, was John Charles Fremont. He was born in South Carolina to an American mother and a French father. Jean Charles Fremon was born a French citizen, near Lyon, France. He was not a U.S. citizen at the time of his son’s birth and never did become a citizen. Abraham Lincoln campaigned for Fremont. All the founders of the Republican Party campaigned for Fremont. One would be hard-pressed to find any suggestion at the time that Fremont’s birth made him ineligible for the presidency.

The seventh vice presidential nominee of the Republican Party, Chester Arthur, was born in Vermont to an American mother and a foreign-born father. William Arthur was born a British citizen – in County Antrim, Ireland – who did not become a U.S. citizen until his son was fourteen years old.

John Fremont, George Meade, Chester Arthur, John McCain, Marco Rubio – all eligible for the presidency. Republicans should not allow themselves to be distracted away from contesting the 2012 presidential campaign on the real issues.

Michael Zak is a popular speaker to Republican organizations around the country. Back to Basics for the Republican Party is his acclaimed history of the GOP, cited by Clarence Thomas in a Supreme Court decision. His Grand Old Partisan website celebrates more than fifteen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. See www.grandoldpartisan.com for more information.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Extended News; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: cfr; eligibility; establisment; naturalborncitizen; nbc; rino; rubio; zak
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To: wideminded
I think this particular portion of the discussion referred to the “origin” of the Common Law to which our Constitution was based.

Someone had tried to interject French Law and I was pointing out that inequity.

161 posted on 04/27/2012 1:02:37 PM PDT by X-spurt (Its time for ON YOUR FEET or on your knees)
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To: Forty-Niner
Natural in the case of Natural Born Citizen means

You can not answer that question without quoting hundreds of court decisions and probably Cuban whatever and throw in a little Scottish Law.

162 posted on 04/27/2012 1:05:22 PM PDT by itsahoot (I will not vote for Romney period, and by election day you won't like him either.)
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To: wideminded

Secondly upon further reading your post, I do not think any other country’s laws regarding their citizenship has bearing upon US citizenship or NBC.


163 posted on 04/27/2012 1:05:45 PM PDT by X-spurt (Its time for ON YOUR FEET or on your knees)
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To: itsahoot

This may help you!!!


How many classes of citizens are there, and how did this number come to be?

Answer: There are two (2) classes of citizens:
State Citizens and federal citizens. The first class originates in the Qualifications Clauses in the U.S. Constitution, where the term “Citizen of the United States” is used. (See 1:2:2, 1:3:3 and 2:1:5.) Notice the UPPER-CASE “C” in “Citizen”.

The pertinent court cases have defined the term “United States” in these Clauses to mean “States United”, and the full term means “Citizen of ONE OF the States United”. See People v. De La Guerra, 40 Cal. 311, 337 (1870); Judge Pablo De La Guerra signed the California Constitution of 1849, when California first joined the Union. Similar terms are found in the Diversity Clause at Article III, Section 2, Clause 1, and in the Privileges and Immunities Clause at Article IV, Section 2, Clause 1. Prior to the Civil War, there was only one (1) class of Citizens under American Law. See the holding in Pannill v. Roanoke, 252 F. 910, 914 915 (1918), for definitive authority on this key point.

The second class originates in the 1866 Civil Rights Act, where the term “citizen of the United States” is used. This Act was later codified at 42 U.S.C. 1983. Notice the lower-case “c” in “citizen”. The pertinent court cases have held that Congress thereby created a municipal franchise primarily for members of the Negro race, who were freed by President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation (a war measure), and later by the Thirteenth Amendment banning slavery and involuntary servitude. Compelling payment of a “tax” for which there is no liability statute is tantamount to involuntary servitude, and extortion.

Instead of using the unique term “federal citizen”, as found in Black’s Law Dictionary, Sixth Edition, it is now clear that the Radical Republicans who sponsored the 1866 Civil Rights Act were attempting to confuse these two classes of citizens. Then, they attempted to elevate this second class to constitutional status, by proposing a 14th amendment to the U.S. Constitution. As we now know, that proposal was never ratified. (See Answer to Question 6 above.)

Numerous court cases have struggled to clarify the important differences between the two classes. One of the most definitive, and dispositive cases, is Pannill v. Roanoke, 252 F. 910, 914 915 (1918), which clearly held that federal citizens had no standing to sue under the Diversity Clause, because they were not even contemplated when Article III in the U.S. Constitution was first being drafted, circa 1787 A.D.

Another is Ex parte Knowles, 5 Cal. 300 (1855) in which the California Supreme Court ruled that there was no such thing as a “citizen of the United States” (as of the year 1855 A.D.). Only federal citizens have standing to invoke 42 U.S.C. 1983; whereas State Citizens do not. See Wadleigh v. Newhall, 136 F. 941 (C.C. Cal. 1905).


Can one be a State Citizen, without also being a federal citizen?

Answer: Yes.
The 1866 Civil Rights Act was municipal law, confined to the District of Columbia and other limited areas where Congress is the “state” government with exclusive legislative jurisdiction there. These areas are now identified as “the federal zone.” (Think of it as the blue field on the American flag; the stars on the flag are the 50 States.) As such, the 1866 Civil Rights Act had no effect whatsoever upon the lawful status of State Citizens, then or now.

Several courts have already recognized our Right to be State Citizens without also becoming federal citizens. For excellent examples, see State v. Fowler, 41 La. Ann. 380, 6 S. 602 (1889) and Gardina v. Board of Registrars, 160 Ala. 155, 48 S. 788, 791 (1909). The Maine Supreme Court also clarified the issue by explaining our “Right of Election” or “freedom of choice,” namely, our freedom to choose between two different forms of government. See 44 Maine 518 (1859), Hathaway, J. dissenting.

Since the Guarantee Clause does not require the federal government to guarantee a Republican Form of Government to the federal zone, Congress is free to create a different form of government there, and so it has. In his dissenting opinion in Downes v. Bidwell, 182 U.S. 244 at 380 (1901), Supreme Court Justice Harlan called it an absolute legislative democracy.

But, State Citizens are under no legal obligation to join or pledge any allegiance to that legislative democracy; their allegiance is to one or more of the several States of the Union (i.e. the white stars on the American flag, not the blue field).


164 posted on 04/27/2012 1:11:11 PM PDT by know-the-law
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To: Piranha
In other words, the status of a child can change from “citizen” to “natural born citizen” after he is born, when his parents become US citizens.

And a worm can become a butterfly, wow!

All this band width being consumed to try and put our non-NBC guy on the ticket, because they put their non-NBC guy on the ticket. Of course our non-NBC guy is much better than theirs. Cool.

165 posted on 04/27/2012 1:12:51 PM PDT by itsahoot (I will not vote for Romney period, and by election day you won't like him either.)
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To: wideminded
Yes, but ...

I don't care how long the list of reps and senator is. We're talking about eligibility for the office of president. Natural born citizen, two citizen parents at time of birth, eliminates foreigners holding that office. Maybe we still get bad presidents (think Carter, here, among others), but hopefully they don't disdain America and her people, as this jerk does.

There is a foreigner currently residing at 1600 Penn'a Ave. Foreign because he is steeped in anti-Americanism (frank lloyd wright, his parents and grandparents, formative years spent in indonesia, moslem identity, this is not an exhaustive list of reasons why he is foreign).

166 posted on 04/27/2012 1:17:27 PM PDT by RobinOfKingston (The instinct toward liberalism is located in the part of the brain called the rectal lobe.)
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To: Ancesthntr
Our disagreement would need to be decided by the Supreme Court,

It doesn’t need to be, but absent common sense, it surely will be, if it is ever to become settled. The more likely case is that parties will still certify the qualification of their candidates. Since the courts have decided already that citizens have no standing to inquire, I submit the question has already been decided. CW II might change it, but I doubt that scenario.

Laws like Votes, depend on who examines them.

167 posted on 04/27/2012 1:23:01 PM PDT by itsahoot (I will not vote for Romney period, and by election day you won't like him either.)
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To: know-the-law
But according to the criteria being presented today, just being born on American soil would make ANYBODY a NBC.

Yup. Should the law be changed? In my opinion: absolutely. But until it is...

And it will take a Constitutional Amendment.

168 posted on 04/27/2012 1:41:09 PM PDT by Cheburashka (It's legal to be out at night in spacesuits, even carrying a rag dolly. Cops hauled us in anyway.)
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To: know-the-law
164 posts before anyone even brought up; There are two (2) classes of citizens: State Citizens and federal citizens.

But of course we both know that none of this matters one whit because the Ruling Class, and we do have one merely obey the laws that are convenient. I was just a kid in high school when I began to wonder what made our country any different than say Russia. My limited experience concluded that we were greatly different only because our government was smart enough to share more of the wealth with the little people, nothing more. (Well maybe a little more)

169 posted on 04/27/2012 1:45:06 PM PDT by itsahoot (I will not vote for Romney period, and by election day you won't like him either.)
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To: mnehring

“.....US Law however, is based on Common Law, not the “Laws of Nations” “

Common law is law “by tradition.” The US uses Statuate Law....”written law.” The Common Law of the British Isles is not common to the US.....except its use as one of many transitional references for the US as it built up its own body of laws, and judicial review decisions.

Vittal’s Law of Nations/Natural law is a treatise on legal concepts, using natural rationals/logic as a basis for legal thought. Like some European jurists, the US Constitutional Convention delegates used this book as a reference in writing the US Constitution. They also used Blackwood’s Commentary on Common Law as a reference. Ideas from both sources were used. Not one to the exclusion of the other as some would recently, in the Obama era, have it.

It is quite evident from both the term “NBC” as opposed to common law’s term “NBS”, and by the body of USSC decisions, Minor, et al, that Vittal’s term NBC and it’s definition was the one used by the Founders in writting Article II eligibilty requirements because it met their basic concerns about a future President’s loyality....which British common law’s term “NBS” didn’t.

Insisting on the British Common Law term NBS is a red herring used by Obama apologists to add confusion to the question of Obama’s basic eligibility to hold the Office of President of the United States. In fact it has no bearing on Article II eligibility requirements. Obama, born to a foreign national, is ineligible to serve as POTUS........Is he a citizen?.... probably....Is he a Natural Born Citizen?.....no way in hell......


170 posted on 04/27/2012 1:53:12 PM PDT by Forty-Niner (The barely bare, berry bear formerly known as..........Ursus Arctos Horribilis.)
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To: Sherman Logan

“IMO the Founders intended the normal, common law definition of legal terms unless they explicitly state otherwise.”

So why did they use the term Natural Born Citizen instead of Common Law’s Natural Born Subject? Seems like they were “explicitly stating otherwise....”


171 posted on 04/27/2012 1:59:37 PM PDT by Forty-Niner (The barely bare, berry bear formerly known as..........Ursus Arctos Horribilis.)
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To: hummingbird

“The debate over Rubio’s eligibility could be used to a debate of Obama’s eligibility.
A silver lining...”

Like Romney’s Ma. Health Care Law, it only serves to take the issue off the table. I ain’t buying it. Rubio is not eligible same as Obama.......Article II ineligibility.


172 posted on 04/27/2012 2:05:30 PM PDT by Forty-Niner (The barely bare, berry bear formerly known as..........Ursus Arctos Horribilis.)
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To: itsahoot

actually, I was pointing people to it in post #31


173 posted on 04/27/2012 2:08:28 PM PDT by know-the-law
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To: mnehring

That is an interesting question. Mind you, it wouldn’t be unprecedented - Charles Curtis was a member of the Kaw Nation (born prior to the passing of the 14th Amendment) and was elected Vice-president in 1928.


174 posted on 04/27/2012 2:09:54 PM PDT by JerseyanExile
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To: Cheburashka

“The fact his father was a British subject was publicly known when he ran for Vice-President..”

Not so, his father became a naturalized citizen 7 years after little Chester’s birth......Chester made a conscience effort to hide this fact and evade the Article II eligibility question ‘til his death.....


175 posted on 04/27/2012 2:10:20 PM PDT by Forty-Niner (The barely bare, berry bear formerly known as..........Ursus Arctos Horribilis.)
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To: Truth is a Weapon
And to muddy the waters even further, if we're talking about non-legally binding historical opinions, then there is also the interesting case of Mr. Steiukanler. Attorney-General Edwards Pierrepont apparently stated that holding dual-citizenship was not a barrier to being elected president. The following is from the Albany Law Journal, 1875-1876. Uploaded with ImageShack.us
176 posted on 04/27/2012 2:17:15 PM PDT by JerseyanExile
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To: JerseyanExile

Sorry about the formatting mess up - it looked fine in preview.


177 posted on 04/27/2012 2:20:31 PM PDT by JerseyanExile
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To: RobinOfKingston

http://www.gowright.org/


178 posted on 04/27/2012 2:29:22 PM PDT by Piranha (If you seek perfection you will end up with Democrats.)
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To: P-Marlowe
The citizenship of no man could be previous to the declaration of independence, and, as a natural right, belongs to none but those who have been born of citizens since the 4th of July, 1776.
179 posted on 04/27/2012 3:00:24 PM PDT by Godebert (NO PERSON EXCEPT A NATURAL BORN CITIZEN!)
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To: itsahoot
My limited experience concluded that we were greatly different only because our government was smart enough to share more of the wealth with the little people, nothing more.

It's not the proper role of the government to be sharing the wealth with people large or small. It is to get out the way and create conditions for people small and large to create their own wealth!

180 posted on 04/27/2012 3:31:40 PM PDT by cynwoody
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