says likely no--if you apply a strict constructionist analysis--like Cruz, noted textualist, claims to believe in.
http://www.salon.com/2016/01/20/ted...d_law_professor_close_reads_the_constitution/
Summary of the author/Harvard law professor's (not Tribe) analysis:
--the term "natural born citizen" was intended by the framers, per the common law definition, to mean someone born in US territory or to US parents in the service of their country--not to persons born abroad with one parent (his mother) who was a US citizen. The framers feared that someone foreign-born might have divided loyalties. So, the framers did not mean NBC to apply to someone like Cruz.
--Statutes from the 1790s which Cruz cites (which at one time treated persons foreign born to US parents as "natural born") are of no help to Cruz because they may have conveyed rights under that statute by expanding the definition, but they did not purport to change the constitutional definition of "natural born citizen" (which term is used only in reference to qualification for POTUS--not for the qualification for Congress, which = "born citizen"); nor could they because Congress cannot change the language of the Constitution. That language can be interpreted by the Courts and changed by amendment only. In any event, that law was amended in 1795 to delete the "natural born citizen" language (based upon Madison's objection that Congress can only naturalize aliens, not citizens) and say that persons born abroad to US parent(s) are "citizens," but not "natural born citizens."
This particular issue has never been decided by SCOTUS, and Cruz's claims that this is "settled" law are wrong.
The Donald apparently did consult with some legal scholars when he threw this out there. A lawsuit on this would have legs. But how would it arise? The most likely way is a state decides to leave Cruz off the ballot saying he is not a NBC--then he would have to sue to be on it and away we would go. That seems like a long shot to happen. I'm not sure who might have standing to bring the suit preemptively, but I'm sure there are a lot of people looking at that.
Interesting...
http://www.salon.com/2016/01/20/ted...d_law_professor_close_reads_the_constitution/
Summary of the author/Harvard law professor's (not Tribe) analysis:
--the term "natural born citizen" was intended by the framers, per the common law definition, to mean someone born in US territory or to US parents in the service of their country--not to persons born abroad with one parent (his mother) who was a US citizen. The framers feared that someone foreign-born might have divided loyalties. So, the framers did not mean NBC to apply to someone like Cruz.
--Statutes from the 1790s which Cruz cites (which at one time treated persons foreign born to US parents as "natural born") are of no help to Cruz because they may have conveyed rights under that statute by expanding the definition, but they did not purport to change the constitutional definition of "natural born citizen" (which term is used only in reference to qualification for POTUS--not for the qualification for Congress, which = "born citizen"); nor could they because Congress cannot change the language of the Constitution. That language can be interpreted by the Courts and changed by amendment only. In any event, that law was amended in 1795 to delete the "natural born citizen" language (based upon Madison's objection that Congress can only naturalize aliens, not citizens) and say that persons born abroad to US parent(s) are "citizens," but not "natural born citizens."
This particular issue has never been decided by SCOTUS, and Cruz's claims that this is "settled" law are wrong.
The Donald apparently did consult with some legal scholars when he threw this out there. A lawsuit on this would have legs. But how would it arise? The most likely way is a state decides to leave Cruz off the ballot saying he is not a NBC--then he would have to sue to be on it and away we would go. That seems like a long shot to happen. I'm not sure who might have standing to bring the suit preemptively, but I'm sure there are a lot of people looking at that.
Interesting...
