General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Ted Cruz is not eligible to be president. [View all]elleng
(141,926 posts)'The Constitution provides that No person except a natural born Citizen . . . shall be eligible to the Office of President. The concept of natural born comes from common law, and it is that law the Supreme Court has said we must turn to for the concepts definition. On this subject, common law is clear and unambiguous. The 18th-century English jurist William Blackstone, the preeminent authority on it, declared natural-born citizens are such as are born within the dominions of the crown of England, while aliens are such as are born out of it. The key to this division is the assumption of allegiance to ones country of birth. The Americans who drafted the Constitution adopted this principle for the United States. James Madison, known as the father of the Constitution, stated, It is an established maxim that birth is a criterion of allegiance. . . . [And] place is the most certain criterion; it is what applies in the United States.
Cruz is, of course, a U.S. citizen. As he was born in Canada, he is not natural-born. His mother, however, is an American, and Congress has provided by statute for the naturalization of children born abroad to citizens. Because of the senators parentage, he did not have to follow the lengthy naturalization process that aliens without American parents must undergo. Instead, Cruz was naturalized at birth.'
There is a distinction between 'natural born' and 'naturalized,' as was Cruz.