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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: Jim 0216

I would have voted for him if he was the candidate and this was not an issue. I just don’t like the door that this opens up. Any radical can take an american bride, have a child in the M.E., raise and indoctrinate them there, and then move to the US and proclaim they are eligible to run for president. It has already happened. I think we are all pretty confident that it is exactly what happened with O. We elected a guy that was raised and educated in another country, in a belief system we are at war with.


281 posted on 02/19/2016 10:16:39 AM PST by okkev68
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To: cuban leaf

The US has no record of Cruz being born. Upon attempting to enter this country, he (or his mother on his behalf prior to his 18th Bday) must prove that he is an American through the legal processes of our nation.

The question that remains is, are you still considered natural born by having had to take those steps?

To date none of those legal documents have been presented publicly by Cruz in defense of this issue, not even his US passport. Somehow he has gotten from point A to point C and there is no evidence of all the very necessary point B requirements being fulfilled.


282 posted on 02/19/2016 10:16:40 AM PST by xander
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To: Fantasywriter

Cruz could at least have let the citizens of Texas know they were electing a Canadian.


AND that his bid for the Senate was just USING us as a springboard to the presidency. If he is elected president, he will have only served HALF of his first Senate term- while the taxpayers PAID him to apply his full attention to doing the people’s business.
Ted Cruz not only LIED to the people of Texas MULTIPLE TIMES, he RIPPED US OFF & made fools of us.


283 posted on 02/19/2016 10:22:47 AM PST by KGeorge
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To: xander

With that I agree. The McCain case comes to mind


284 posted on 02/19/2016 10:24:47 AM PST by cuban leaf (The US will not survive the obama presidency. The world may not either.)
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To: Cboldt

Interesting thanks. I hope she doesn’t dismiss it. I too would like some resolution on this issue.


285 posted on 02/19/2016 10:26:16 AM PST by FourtySeven (47)
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To: I want the USA back

If Cruz is eligible being born in Canada then Obama is eligible being born in Kenya


286 posted on 02/19/2016 10:32:16 AM PST by Rome2000 (SMASH THE CPUSA-SIC SEMPER TYRANNIS-CLOSE ALL MOSQUES)
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To: FourtySeven
Downstate man: Ted Cruz not 'natural-born' citizen, should be out of primary | Chicago Sun-Times - Feb 19, 2016

Lawyers for Cruz, the state Election Board and Attorney General Lisa Madigan seemed confident that a Cook County judge hasn't got the authority to rule on Cruz's citizenship in the case brought by Lawrence Joyce ...

Some high-powered opposition to having the question resolved. Funny though, the election board found, on February 1st, that it DID have the authority to rule on the question.

While election challenges typically are on a fast track through local courts, Joyce put the brakes on the case himself at a hearing Friday at the Daley Center in Chicago.

Joyce, a pharmacist who got his law degree in the 1980s so he could provide legal support to conservative causes, told Judge Maureen Ward Kirby he wouldn't be able to make the trip back to Chicago until March 1-- because he can't find someone to cover his midnight-shift duties at a hospital in Belvidere.


287 posted on 02/19/2016 10:34:01 AM PST by Cboldt
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To: FourtySeven

She’s going to dismiss it on procedural grounds. If she doesn’t, powerful forces will ruin her life.


288 posted on 02/19/2016 10:35:09 AM PST by Cboldt
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To: Lower55

Sure it has, there have been a number of Amendments not to mention a whole host of Judicial Branch rulings.

Not to mention the laws.

THIS IS the system our Founding Fathers knowingly created.


289 posted on 02/19/2016 10:39:27 AM PST by driftdiver (I could eat it raw, but why do that when I have a fire.)
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To: masadaman

” military personnel whose children were delivered abroad were told (perhaps in a permanent order) the children were not eligible.”

Nope, and the military has no horse in that race. They don’t have jurisdiction over who is a citizen and who isnot.


290 posted on 02/19/2016 10:41:40 AM PST by driftdiver (I could eat it raw, but why do that when I have a fire.)
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To: FourtySeven
Another news report ...

Ted Cruz campaign wants Illinois citizenship suit dismissed - USA Toady (typo deliberate) - Feb 19, 2016

Note that Cruz does NOT want to have the issue settled.

An attorney for the Ted Cruz campaign asked a Cook County judge Friday to dismiss an Illinois man's lawsuit challenging the Texas senator's eligibility to run for president, citing that the Republican hopeful wasn't properly served with the complaint. ...

Sharee Langenstein, an attorney for Cruz, said in court Friday it is "very, very clear" the Cook County court doesn't have jurisdiction to hear the case because state law stipulates the candidate be served with the complaint. Joyce, a pharmacist and attorney from Poplar Grove, Ill., failed to serve Cruz, whose home address is listed in his petition to be placed on the state's ballot, Langenstein said.


291 posted on 02/19/2016 10:43:37 AM PST by Cboldt
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To: Rome2000

I think you’re right. For days I’ve been doing comparisons.

Hussein’s father - Kenyan; Cruz’s father - Cuban
Hussein’s mother - American; Cruz’ mother - American
Hussein’s birthplace - Kenya; Cruz’ birthplace - Canada

If Obama truly was born in Hawaii, then he’s even more qualified than Cruz.
If Cruz’ mother, in Canada, renounced US citizenship, then Obama is even more qualified than Cruz.

We can’t have it both ways. Either both are qualified, or neither is.


292 posted on 02/19/2016 10:46:43 AM PST by MayflowerMadam (Romans 8:38-39)
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To: yadent

His parents may not have applied for one, one of Cruz’s spokespeople said his Mother registered him at the consulate when he eas born. She may have added him to her passport, so she could travel back to her parent’s. The CRBA is not a required document to prove citizenship


293 posted on 02/19/2016 10:49:23 AM PST by Dstorm (Cruz 2016)
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To: SeekAndFind

What about no entangling alliances?

For me “Natural Born” means you don’t have other citizenship options. Born in the US of two US Citizens. No ability to claim citizenship of another country at time of birth. The ONLY exceptions should be those born out of country to two US citizens while one or both parents are on military deployment.


294 posted on 02/19/2016 10:52:22 AM PST by IBIAFR
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To: FourtySeven

You have FReepmail.


295 posted on 02/19/2016 10:52:43 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: The Sons of Liberty; All

The courts will find him eligible because it will open a can of worms related to Obama if the don’t find Cruz eligible.


296 posted on 02/19/2016 10:55:04 AM PST by mdmathis6
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To: IBIAFR

RE: What about no entangling alliances?

You can renounce any citizenship you were born with and pledge allegiance ONLY to the USA.

You have no control over the circumstances you were born under. You have absolute control over which country you will pledge sole loyalty to.


297 posted on 02/19/2016 10:56:31 AM PST by SeekAndFind
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To: masadaman
I was never told that, was that your personal experience or hearsay?
298 posted on 02/19/2016 11:00:51 AM PST by Dstorm (Cruz 2016)
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To: Enlightened1

Kinda late now after Obama set the precident that no birth certificate was required. Just a signature from a mob princess.


299 posted on 02/19/2016 11:02:09 AM PST by justa-hairyape (The user name is sarcastic. Although at times it may not appear that way.)
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To: Enlightened1

I would expect that Cruz would immediately apply to the S.Ct. for expedited handling of this lawsuit because of the time factor on the election.

I would hope that the justices would handle this matter without imputing their own politics to an issue that could affect future candidates from both parties.

It doesn’t matter which way it goes, the country apparently cannot function in its Presidential politics until it is decided once and for all.


300 posted on 02/19/2016 11:12:37 AM PST by wildbill (If you check behind the shower curtain fInor a murder, and find one.... what's your plan?)
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