Arkady
President
I'd last considered the issue of natural-born citizenship when it came up in the context of John McCain, and in his case it seemed like a slam dunk. Not only was he a born citizen, thanks to his parents being citizens, but he was born on sovereign US territory abroad, and to a family that was in the service of the nation at the time, and those things both argued that he was a natural born citizen. I'd assumed the case was equally easy with Cruz, but it turns out to be tougher, as a Harvard Constitutional scholar argues:
http://www.salon.com/2016/01/20/ted...d_law_professor_close_reads_the_constitution/
Basically, the argument is that for Cruz to be a natural born citizen, you need to either ignore the word "natural" in that phrase entirely, or you need to take the position that Congress can, by mere statute, alter what meets that definition (which effectively negates the whole reason for having it in the Constitution). Cruz would not have been a "natural born citizen" as that term was understood in the common law in 1789, since he was born outside sovereign US territory to people not in the service of the government.
http://www.salon.com/2016/01/20/ted...d_law_professor_close_reads_the_constitution/
Basically, the argument is that for Cruz to be a natural born citizen, you need to either ignore the word "natural" in that phrase entirely, or you need to take the position that Congress can, by mere statute, alter what meets that definition (which effectively negates the whole reason for having it in the Constitution). Cruz would not have been a "natural born citizen" as that term was understood in the common law in 1789, since he was born outside sovereign US territory to people not in the service of the government.
