Republican Senator Ted Cruz has
announced his candidacy for President, again raising the issue of how
people born in other countries qualify for office under the
Constitution.
The Constitution’s Natural Born
Citizenship Clause states that “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.”
The scholarly consensus about
Cruz is that he’s most likely eligible to run for the office of
President and serve in the White House for several reasons.
Sarah Helene Duggin from Catholic University, who is an expert on this topic, wrote at length for us about a potential Cruz candidacy back in October 2013, and she explained why scholars believe Cruz is eligible.
Duggin said that the “consensus
rests on firm foundations” based on the intent of the naturalization
clause, as stated in a letter in 1787 from John Jay to George
Washington; the language of the 1790 Naturalization Act; and the 14-year
residency requirement in the Constitution’s Article II.
So why is there even a debate
about a Cruz candidacy? Two significant factors that allow for some
doubt are the facts that constitutional convention didn’t discuss the
exact meaning of the words “natural born citizen” and the Supreme Court
has never ruled on that issue.
“For Senator Cruz—who was born in
Calgary, Alberta, to an American mother and a Cuban father—the question
is more complicated,” Duggin said back in October 2013. “There is a
strong argument that anyone who acquires United States citizenship at
birth, whether by virtue of the 14th Amendment or by operation of
federal statute, qualifies as natural born. The Supreme Court,
however, has never ruled on the meaning of the natural-born citizenship
requirement. In the absence of a definitive Supreme Court ruling—or a
constitutional amendment—the parameters of the clause remain uncertain.”
Cruz isn’t the first person to
run for President who wasn’t born in the United States. In 2008, John
McCain faced questions since he was born in the Panama Canal Zone. And
Mitt Romney’s father, George Romney, was born in Mexico, and he faced
questions during his 1968 presidential campaign.
In February, Cruz again addressed questions about his qualifications for office at the CPAC political meetings.
“I was born in Calgary. My mother
was an American citizen by birth,” Cruz said. “Under federal law, that
made me an American citizen by birth. The Constitution requires that
you be a natural-born citizen.”
Two prominent legal authorities, Neal Katyal and Paul Clement, said in a Harvard Law Review article that
“there is no question that Senator Cruz has been a citizen from birth
and is thus a ‘natural born Citizen’ within the meaning of the
Constitution.”
“As Congress has recognized since
the Founding, a person born abroad to a U.S. citizen parent is
generally a U.S. citizen from birth with no need for naturalization. And
the phrase “natural born Citizen” in the Constitution encompasses all
such citizens from birth,” they added. “Thus, an individual born to a
U.S. citizen parent — whether in California or Canada or the Canal Zone —
is a U.S. citizen from birth and is fully eligible to serve as
President if the people so choose.”
In the long run, the debate would be settled by a constitutional change.
“The best solution would be to
amend the Constitution, as many legislators on both sides of the aisle
have proposed over the years. In the absence of an amendment, the clause
should be narrowly interpreted,” Duggin said back in 2013
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