Ted Cruz Isn't a 'Natural Born' Citizen

US News ^ | 1/27 | Robert Clinton

[TangledUpInBlue]

Article II, Section 1, Clause 5 of the Constitution states: "No Person except a natural born Citizen ... shall be eligible to the Office of President." The original structure of the Constitution does suggest that "natural born" was meant to contain a geographic component of birth in the United States. The "Inhabitant" requirements for senators and representatives in Article I of the Constitution clearly were intended to be geographic. Since the qualifications stated for president contain no other obvious parallel geographic reference, it would seem the framers meant the "natural born" citizenship requirement for president to refer to those born geographically in the United States.

The framers, however, contemplated later migration into the United States and authorized Congress in Article I, Section 8, Clause 4 to provide means of acquiring citizenship by naturalization for those who were not natural born citizens. Thus, as originally drafted, the Constitution recognized only two means of acquiring national citizenship – "natural born" citizens (birthright citizenship), and naturalization.

[TangledUpInBlue]

hmmmm

[BenLurkin]

After Obama
Who cares

[samtheman]

Robert N. Clinton is the Foundation Professor of Law at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University. He teaches constitutional law, federal Indian law, cyberspace law and copyrights.

[Fawn]

That’s how i see it too.

[SubMareener]

Either Ted Cruz is a original-intent Constitutionalist and therefore ineligible to be President or he is a living-document Constitutionalist and eligible to be President. It is one or the other, but it can’t be both.

[struggle]

Sorry - Naturalization act of 1790 defines “natural born” as born of an American citizen with at least a father with residency.

My daughter, born to my Japanese (now American) wife and I, born American, was born in Japan and was immediately a citizen upon birth.

[TexasCajun]

At first glance I see the words "meant" & "intended".

-FAIL-

[redreno]

This article is crap.

[SeekAndFind]

Here's an opposing view

Yes, Ted Cruz is a "natural-born" citizen -- even in an originalist reading of the clause

[Kenny]

A naturalized citizen is a person who was born an alien, but has lawfully become a citizen of the United States under the U.S. Constitution and laws.

Cruz was born an alien but made a citizen through law (Congress).

---

Couldn’t be clearer, born outside the U.S., derived citizenship is naturalized.

And notice Cruz doesn’t defend his nbc claim. Like Obama, he says it’s settled, move on.

[Sans-Culotte]

Okay, I think I’ve got it. Ted Cruz isn’t a natural born citizen, but an anchor baby is. That’s good to know. Thanks for clearing that up.

[fieldmarshaldj]

ZOTbait.

[driftdiver]

blah blah blah

Ignorant is no way to go through life.

[bigbob]

Exactly, justvas he can be an Outsider...or he can be an ivy league lawyer with a wife on the CFR who has used his connections and the system his whole career.

[TangledUpInBlue]

I know. How ridiculous an ending was that?

[Yosemitest]

Robert Clinton of U.S, SNOOZE is WRONG! Read it !


1st United States Congress, 21-26 Senators and 59-65 Representatives

Can you NOT UNDERSTAND the in PLAIN ENGLISH LANGUAGE Of
Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution ? ! ? It list the powers given to the Congress.
The third item on the list IS the power to "establish a uniform rule of naturalization ... throughout the United States."
Can you NOT UNDERSTAND the PLAIN ENGLISH LANGUAGE ?

Can you not READ and COMPREHEND typed writing ?

Take a look at the original one WRITTEN BY our FOUNDING FATHERS,
and VERIFY IT FOR YOURSELF in the list of NAMES of the members of our FIRST CONGRESS !

Have you any knowledge of WHY those changes were made ?
Don't you realize that this changes only CLARIFY the definition given by our Founding Fathers, and do it for the good of our Country ?

IF YOU REALLY WANT TO KNOW, a good start at the background and the reason for the changes, can be read at Act of March 26, 1790 eText.

... What happened next ...

The 1790 act mentioned nothing about the attitudes of new citizens toward government policy in the new democracy.
Soon after the 1790 act was passed, however, politics became an important consideration in giving immigrants the right to vote.
During the two terms of the nation's first president, George Washington (1732-1799; served 1789-97), two distinct political parties had begun to emerge.
... One party, led by Washington's successor, John Adams (1797-1801; served 1797-1801), was known as the Federalists.
The Federalist Party included Washington, Adams, and the nation's first secretary of the treasury, Alexander Hamilton (c. 1755-1804).
The Federalists supported a strong central (federal) government and were generally sympathetic to the interests of merchants in the cities.
An opposing faction, the Anti-Federalists (also called the Democratic-Republicans), were led by the country's third president, Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826; served 1801-9).
The Anti-Federalists opposed giving the federal government more power than was absolutely needed.

In January 1795, the act of 1790 was repealed and replaced by another law.
The new law required immigrants to wait five years (instead of two) to become a citizen
and to make a declaration of intention to become a citizen three years before becoming naturalized.
An immigrant who failed to make the declaration might have to wait more than five years after arrival in the United States to become a voter.
The 1795 law also required naturalized citizens to renounce any noble titles they might hold (such as "duke" or "countess")
and to promise not to be loyal to any foreign king or queen.
These measures were intended to ensure that new citizens would not secretly want to restore a king and an aristocracy, or individuals who inherit great wealth and special political privileges.

In 1798, the law on naturalization was changed again.
The Federalists feared that many new immigrants favored their political foes, the Democratic-Republicans.
The Federalists, therefore, wanted to reduce the political influence of immigrants.
To do so, the Federalists, who controlled Congress, passed a law
that required immigrants to wait fourteen years before becoming naturalized citizens and thereby gaining the right to vote.
The 1798 act also barred naturalization for citizens of countries at war with the United States.
At the time, the United States was engaged in an unofficial, undeclared naval war with France.
The French government thought the United States had taken the side of Britain in the ongoing conflict between Britain and France.
A related law passed in 1798, the Alien Enemy Act, gave the president the power during a time of war to arrest or deport any alien thought to be a danger to the government.

After Jefferson became president (in 1801), the 1798 naturalization law was repealed, or overturned (in 1802).
The basic provisions of the original 1790 law were restored
except for the period of residency before naturalization.
The residency requirement, that is, the amount of time the immigrant had to reside, or live, in the United States, was put back to five years, as it had been in 1795.

The 1802 law remained the basic naturalization act until 1906, with two notable exceptions.
In 1855, the wives of American citizens were automatically granted citizenship.
In 1870, people of African descent could become naturalized citizens, in line with constitutional amendments passed after the American Civil War (1861-65)
that banned slavery and gave African American men the right to vote.
Other laws were passed to limit the number of people (if any) allowed to enter the United States from different countries,
especially Asian countries, but these laws did not affect limits on naturalization.

Within a decade of adopting the Constitution, immigration, and naturalization in particular, had become hot political issues.
They have remained political issues for more than two centuries. ...

[PLMerite]

“Couldn’t be clearer, born outside the U.S., derived citizenship is naturalized.”

So all those children born abroad of American parents aren’t eligible to be President?

[SeekAndFind]

RE: Either Ted Cruz is a original-intent Constitutionalist and therefore ineligible to be President

That of course assumes that you know the original intent of the framers when they used the term “natural born”.

THAT has been debated by many who take the originalist meaning seriously and there is as of this time, still NO CONSENSUS.

So, the either-or statement you are giving assumes too much.

First, produce a writing from the framers CLEARLY EXPLAINING what they mean by that term and then we’ll know what the original intent is but not until.

[deport]

It is one or the other, but it can’t be both.

****************

Don’t forget the 3rd. ACC elgibility

[WENDLE]

Sorry. ‘The Act of 1790 was superseded by the Naturalization Act of 1795, which extended the residence requirement to five years, and by the Naturalization Act of 1798, which extended it to 14 years. The 1798 act was repealed by the Naturalization Law of 1802.”

All gone.