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Bad news for Ted Cruz: his eligibility for president is going to court
Vox ^ | 02/18/16 | Dara Lind and Jeff Stein

Posted on 02/19/2016 6:36:53 AM PST by Enlightened1

The problem: the meaning of "natural-born citizen"

Here is what the Constitution says about who can be president:

No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.

The problem is the Constitution doesn't define "natural born Citizen." Neither does any current law. And no one has ever brought a court case to decisively settle the question as a matter of US law.

There are three ways someone can be a US citizen. He can be born in the US (regardless of who his parents are). He can be born outside the US to at least one US citizen parent, as long as certain criteria are met (those criteria are set by federal law and have been changed over time). Or he can immigrate here and then successfully apply for citizenship, a process called naturalization.

Everyone agrees that the first category of people are natural-born citizens. Everyone agrees that the third category of people are not natural-born citizens (regardless of how unfair it might be that immigrants can't be president). But Ted Cruz is in the middle category, and this is where the meaning of "natural born" starts to get fuzzy.

(Excerpt) Read more at vox.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Philosophy; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: birthers; citizen; citizenship; court; cruz; cruznbc; cruznbccourt; eligibility; nbc; president; tinfoilhat; trumpites; truthers
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To: Cboldt

The 14th doesn’t address the specific presidential eligibility issue, though it supports the binary issue in an assumptive way with the first 9 words very first sentence of section 1.

I.e.you are correct that it would have helped my argument to use it. :-)


181 posted on 02/19/2016 7:56:19 AM PST by cuban leaf (The US will not survive the obama presidency. The world may not either.)
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To: deport

Yes. I was trying not to sink a foot into that swamp lest I be seized by the Woman’s Liberation Army for the “sexism” of suggesting that the Father’s allegiance was primary.


182 posted on 02/19/2016 7:56:59 AM PST by JayGalt (Come not between the nazgul and his prey.)
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To: Sacajaweau
-- The place of birth of McCain was under the jurisdiction of the United States. --

So are

And the only way persons born in some of those places US citizens, is by operation of an Act of Congress.

McCain is as much a naturalized US citizen as Cruz is, and he knows it too.

183 posted on 02/19/2016 7:57:05 AM PST by Cboldt
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To: fwdude

“So, John McCain wasn’t eligible either (born in Panama)? I don’t see the Cruz disparagers here say anything about that.”

It was discussed, with varied opinions on the matter. FWIW I was born in legally identical circumstances as McCain, and was always told that was a bar to the presidency. (We all have our fantasies as children) Of course these advisers were all lay people, and that was back in real America.


184 posted on 02/19/2016 7:57:06 AM PST by Psalm 144 ("Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded" - James Madison)
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To: null and void

“The she has implicitly ruled against Obama.”

Ok. But with 11 months left, Biden takes over? I just have a feeling she may just rule against Cruz (if she is liberal).


185 posted on 02/19/2016 7:57:24 AM PST by napscoordinator
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To: null and void

And your point? Grasping to this thin straw would never have solved the problem of electing a moronic bi-sexual Muslim Marxist. That clause is not in the Constitution.


186 posted on 02/19/2016 7:58:10 AM PST by centurion316
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To: null and void

Which would be awesome. Obama is in no way natural born, regardless of where he was born.


187 posted on 02/19/2016 7:58:11 AM PST by freedomjusticeruleoflaw (Western Civilization- whisper the words, and it will disappear. So let us talk now about rebirth.)
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To: FourtySeven
The Illinois Board of Elections already confirmed Cruz as US citizen. Is that decision being challenged by a higher court? See exerpt from Washington Examiner 2/2/16:

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz secured two major victories Monday, winning the Republican Iowa caucuses and also receiving a favorable decision from the Illinois Board of Elections, which confirmed his U.S. citizenship met the state's primary ballot requirements...
188 posted on 02/19/2016 7:59:12 AM PST by georgiegirl
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To: okkev68

“Freepers would do well to stop the pissing matches and realize this. It will not go away after the convention.”

Really. If not settled now, it’ll become even worse after the Convention. The Dems will make sure of that.


189 posted on 02/19/2016 8:00:21 AM PST by MayflowerMadam (Romans 8:38-39)
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To: Tulsa Ramjet

If they are not naturalized, they are “natural born”. A good way to look at it is this: if you are a citizen and were never naturalized, you are, by definition, natural born.

That is, the conditions of your birth are what make you a citizen.


190 posted on 02/19/2016 8:00:46 AM PST by cuban leaf (The US will not survive the obama presidency. The world may not either.)
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To: SeekAndFind

I believe a number of people tried to sue regarding the Constitutional eligibility of Obama to be President only to have their suits dismissed because of lack of standing. Apparently is the goal is to disqualify a conservative, that is not an issue.


191 posted on 02/19/2016 8:01:40 AM PST by PTBAA
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To: cuban leaf
I think the 14th amendment refutes your conclusion. It sets up two categories.

Which one is Cruz in?

192 posted on 02/19/2016 8:02:05 AM PST by Cboldt
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To: null and void

You are absolutely correct. I was lazy and didn’t attach the proper term.
A resolution recognizing that John Sidney McCain, III, is a ...
https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/110/sres511/text

Apr 10, 2008 - Recognizing that John Sidney McCain, III, is a natural born citizen. ... or any Congress to limit the constitutional rights of children born to ..Whereas there is no evidence of the intention of the Framers or any Congress to limit the constitutional rights of children born to Americans serving in the military nor to prevent those children from serving as their country’s President.


193 posted on 02/19/2016 8:02:10 AM PST by JayGalt (Come not between the nazgul and his prey.)
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To: centurion316
And the Supreme Court is never going to define it. They will not touch this question and Cruz will be on the ballot.

Until Tippy Turtle McConnell gives Caesar Zero a vote on whichever Caligula's Horse he sends up for SCOTUS in December, and then the Left gets even for Florida 2000 by voiding a Cruz victory on appeal and installing Ill Douche Hillary as POTUS... I need thicker tinfoil.

194 posted on 02/19/2016 8:02:29 AM PST by Dr.Deth
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To: jsanders2001
But the chooming Kenyan Mulatto gets a pass. How ironic...

Especially so when you consider his Illinois Senate campaign literature proudly asserted Zero was born in Kenya, and he never disputed, disavowed or corrected that assertion. He felt his Kenyan origins made him more "diverse" and attractive to Afro-centric voters. It was convenient then, but an unmentionable inconvenience now.

Interestingly, State Department records for the year he was born (1961?) show an immigration record for one child from Kenya. Hmmm....

195 posted on 02/19/2016 8:03:14 AM PST by Auntie Dem (Hey! Hey! Ho! Ho! Terrorist lovers gotta go!)
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To: Enlightened1

Donald told ya, Ted, to get that taken care of MONTHS ago.

You took his suggestion as criticism.

Most who have observed politic know/knew the issue would not go away. The Dems would certainly try to make it a hot-button issue, if you got the nomination.

Better to take care of it now than later, assuming you do get the nomination this time or at a later time.

I recall posting in one of the early threads on the issue: it will dog you to the end, if you don’t get it adjudicated.


196 posted on 02/19/2016 8:03:32 AM PST by TomGuy
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To: driftdiver; freedomjusticeruleoflaw
And the common use of NBC at the time includes those born abroad to American citizens.

True.

But one must remember that at the time European cultures were paternalistic societies and that it was understood that citizenship was passed down as was all things from the father to the child.

At the time a child whose father died was legally an orphan.

197 posted on 02/19/2016 8:03:49 AM PST by Pontiac (The welfare state must fail because it is contrary to human nature and diminishes the human spirit.)
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To: okkev68
It won't go away after the convention.

And those who reject the idea of a POTUS born on foreign soil won't vote for him.

198 posted on 02/19/2016 8:03:58 AM PST by BlatherNaut
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To: FourtySeven

I have never set foot on the soil of the state of Hawai’i.

I lived on O’ahu for a while.

That seems pretty clear to me.

Perhaps you should, as Ayn Rand said, check your premises...


199 posted on 02/19/2016 8:04:25 AM PST by null and void (This is "They live", and most people would rather fight you than put on the glasses...)
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To: Jim 0216

We are much better off voting for a life long liberal who tapping into our anger with a bunch of campaign promises who brags about his ability to get people to believe he will do things he knows he can’t or won’t.


200 posted on 02/19/2016 8:04:49 AM PST by 5thGenTexan
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