Ted Cruz is Ineligible for the Presidency

[Forty Two]

He was born in Canada to a Canadian father and an American mother, and he held Canadian citizenship from birth. The US did not (and still technically does not) recognize dual citizenship (although the US Department of State doesn't bother about it anymore). However, for the first 30-odd years of Ted Cruz's life, if a person claimed Canadian citizenship he could not be an American citizen.

So, he just renounced his Canadian citizenship a few years ago.

How the fuck does he become a natural born citizen?

http://news.yahoo.com/quarter-republica ... 08988.html

Now, the Obama birthers ought to be all over this. Because if having an American citizen mother is all you need to be President of the US, then the entire argument of the Obama birthers is out the window. Obama's mother was American, so even if he was born in Kenya or Indonesia, why would that matter? Under the Ted Cruz theory, American mother = natural born citizen.

Bollocks. The case against Ted Cruz is rock solid. Obama was, it appears, born in Hawaii. Ted admits to being born in Canada. He admits he wasn't an American citizen at birth, because he could not legally have been (by virtue of Canadian citizenship).

Fuck off Ted Cruz!

[cronus]

He's a Canadian. Trumps the man for me.

[NineBerry]

But he was reborn when he accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Saviour. And that was in the US!

[Seth]

Be interesting to see if the Democrats reverse course if Cruz gets the nomination and start arguing the salient point that everyone glosses over, which is that while a child born to TWO American citizens, regardless of where in the world the child is born, is by law and custom a "natural born citizen", a child born to ONE American citizen parent and a foreign national is NOT a "natural born citizen." Such children are "citizens of the United States" by virtue of their single American citizen parent, but for the purposes of holding the office of President, they do not meet the requirement of being a "natural born citizen", regardless of where they were actually born, either within or without the boundaries of the United States. It is the citizenship of the PARENTS that determines "natural born" status, not the place of birth.

We went through this same debate with Obama, and it was never actually resolved by the Supreme Court, which it should be.

The problem with the interpretation used to justify Obama's and now Cruz's status as "natural born citizens" is that the phrase "natural born citizen" is used only once in the Constitution, and that is to explicitly limit candidacy for President and no other purpose.

In all other cases in the Constitution a person is referred to either as a "citizen" or "naturalized citizen," but NEVER "natural born citizen."

The rules of statutory construction state that where such a distinction is made, it is presumed to have been made for a reason and intentionally by those who drafted and ratified the law. Because the terms "citizen", "naturalized citizen", and "natural born citizen" are not synonymous it is necessary to examine the historical contextual connotation of the terms as understood by the Framers and Ratifiers of the Constitution to find their original intent in making that specific restriction, "natural born" to the qualifications for the presidency.

And when we look at this historical evidence, we find that their specific intent was precisely to prevent any person, BOTH of whose parents were at the time of birth "citizens" (including "naturalized" citizens) of the United States, from holding the office of President.

So, neither Obama, whose father was a Kenyan and British citizen, nor Cruz, whose father is a Canadian citizen, are legally eligible to hold that office.

[Svartalf]

His mother is Merkin, he's a natural born Merkin citizen, period, don't believe trump

[Seth]

His mother is Merkin, he's a natural born Merkin citizen, period, don't believe trump

No, he's not. He was born in Canada to an American citizen mother and a Cuban national and therefore is not a "natural born" citizen. He is a "citizen" however, by virtue of his mother's citizenship.

[Tero]

Too bad, because the GOP will run him. It will be excititng:
-Cruz not citizen
-Hillary arrested by FBI for deleting and forwarding secret e mail

[laklak]

Yeah it's going to be a clusterfuck. Interesting, but still a clusterfuck.

[L'Emmerdeur]

He was born in Canada to a Canadian father and an American mother . . .

Uh, yeah. The whole worm-ridden bag of birther shit revolves around overgrown twerps who think their hypertrophied egos qualify them as constitutional scholars. They shoot off their mouths about supposed fine points that they've pulled out of their asses, learned from other equally unqualified blowhards, or from meretricious partisan hacks.

A point of fact: "Ted" Cruz was born in 1970. His father was still a citizen of Cuba at the time of the birth, becoming a citizen of Canada in 1973.

[laklak]

SCOTUS has, to this date, skirted the issue. It's probably something that needs an act of Congress to clarify. To my mind the differentiation was between those born with citizenship and those who were naturalized. There are cogent arguments that that was the original intent of the framers. If that's the case then both Cruz and Obama were "natural born", but the Arhnold wasn't.

[Tero]

Founding Fathers messed up. All they had to say was that anyone born in England was not going to be president.

[pErvinalia]

But he was reborn when he accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Saviour. And that was in the US!

[pErvinalia]

What a mess. How crazy that a person (not talking Cruz or Bammy here) born in the US and lived their whole life there might not be able to be Prez because one of their parents is was not born in the US. Who cares what the framers thought. Claiming that someone born and raised in the US is a lesser citizen than the same situation but with both parents born in the US is ridiculous and prejudiced.

[JimC]

What a mess. How crazy that a person (not talking Cruz or Bammy here) born in the US and lived their whole life there might not be able to be Prez because one of their parents is was not born in the US. Who cares what the framers thought. Claiming that someone born and raised in the US is a lesser citizen than the same situation but with both parents born in the US is ridiculous and prejudiced.

It's part and parcel of a quasi-religious worship of a sacred constitution and sainted "founding fathers".

Definitely a nation that needs to grow up, and leave romantic fantasies of muskets, militias and ancestor veneration behind.

[pErvinalia]

Yep.