Can Ted Cruz run for president? STORY HIGHLIGHTS Possible 2016 presidential candidate Ted Cruzs birth circumstances raise eligibility questions Cruz was born in Canada to U.S. citizen mother and Cuban father Birther-in-chief Donald Trump raised question of Cruzs eligibility in weekend appearance Question hinges on the definition of what is a natural-born citizen Washington (CNN) -- While the issue of President Barack Obamas birth has long been settled, and its a moot point anyway since hes in his second term in office, there remain some people who wont be convinced. Just ask members of Congress, who even this summer are encountering so-called birthers at town hall meetings. With Ted Cruz, there is no conspiracy. He wasnt born in the United States. But that hasnt stopped the junior Texas senator from courting a possible presidential bid. The dynamic young senator has traveled to Iowa and other early primary states. If his moves toward a candidacy become more serious, theyre sure to spark first a debate about his conservative politics, but also that recurring debate about whether a natural-born citizen can be born outside the United States. Birther-in-chief Donald Trump, who appeared to be running singularly on that issue in 2011, was more restrained when he was asked if Canadian-born Cruz was eligible to be president. Perhaps not, Trump told ABC News on Sunday. I dont know the circumstances. I heard somebody told me he was born in Canada. Thats really his thing, said Trump, who could face Cruz in a GOP primary if both men follow through with runs they appear to be teasing. Another Cruz trip to Iowa raises 2016 speculation Sen. Cruz focused on defunding Obamacare Cruz seems to think the facts are on his side. My mother was born in Wilmington, Delaware. Shes a U.S. citizen, so Im a U.S. citizen, Cruz told ABC in July. Im not going to engage in a legal debate. The facts are clear, he added. I can tell you where I was born and who my parents were. And then as a legal matter, others can worry about that. Im not going to engage. TIME: Cruz talks about Obama, spats with fellow Republicans There is precedent for people born outside the United States making credible runs for the presidency. George Romney, Mitt Romneys father, was born in Mexico to Mormon missionaries. He ran for president in 1968. For all the ink spilled about Obamas provenance -- Hawaii, people -- it was actually John McCain in the 2008 presidential contest who was born outside the United States. McCains father, an admiral, was stationed in the Panama Canal Zone. Democrats didnt make an issue of McCains birthright to run, however. In fact, Democratic candidates Obama and then-Sen. Hillary Clinton sponsored a non-binding resolution in the spring of 2008 declaring that McCain was a natural-born citizen. This is all the U.S. Constitution has to say about the qualifications to 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. Thats pretty clear. Only a 35-year-old (or older) natural-born citizen can be president. But it turns out not be that clear. Who is a natural-born citizen? Citizen scholarship falls on the side of McCain. He had two American citizen parents and one was working for the U.S. government when he was born in Panama. Cruz doesnt check all those boxes. His father, a preacher who has delivered stem-winding speeches of his own, has since become an American. But at the time of Teds birth in Canada, he was a Cuban émigré working for an oil company. His mother, however, hails from Delaware. Ted Cruzs father makes fiery anti-Obama speech There is a 50-page report prepared for lawmakers by the Congressional Research Service. You can read the whole thing here. The key paragraph in that lawerly paper reads this way: The weight of legal and historical authority indicates that the term natural born citizen would mean a person who is entitled to U.S. citizenship by birth or at birth, either by being born in the United States and under its jurisdiction, even those born to alien parents; by being born abroad to U.S. citizen-parents; or by being born in other situations meeting legal requirements for U.S. citizenship at birth. It does not specifically deal with the issue of someone born outside the United States to one American parent. But if Cruz could claim citizenship at birth, according to the argument, he could claim to be natural born. The natural-born citizen requirement was put into the Constitution, according to the congressional report, to ward against aristocracy coming to America and setting up a new kingdom. There has been discussion of doing away with the requirement altogether. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah introduced the Equal Right to Govern Amendment in July 2003. It would allow immigrants who had been naturalized for at least 20 years to run for president. But it has gone exactly nowhere. Opinion: Ted Cruz can be president, probably
Posted on: Sat, 01 Feb 2014 02:05:27 +0000
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