Ted Cruz’s birther problem grows as more constitutional law scholars say he can’t be president

[TeddyR]

34. That's absolutely not settled

So two points. First, the Constitution dealt with the fact that the founding fathers weren't born in the US because it didn't exist. The operative clause states "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 bolded clause makes everyone who was a citizen at the time the Constitution was adopted eligible for the presidency. Second, under English common law, which informs interpretation of the Constitution, birth in the country governed, not the citizenship of parents. This means that so-called "anchor babies" are "natural born citizens" but if Cruz was born in Canada to a US-citizen mother then he MIGHT not be eligible. You can claim he is until you are blue in the face but the question is at the least unresolved.

There are cases and comments that support this, even though never expressly resolved by the Supreme Court. For example:

“The first section of the second article of the Constitution uses the language, ‘a natural-born citizen.’ It thus assumes that citizenship may be acquired by birth. Undoubtedly, this language of the Constitution was used in reference to that principle of public law, well understood in this country at the time of the adoption of the Constitution, which referred citizenship to the place of birth.”

Justice Curtis, dissenting, Dredd Scott v. Sandford, 60 U.S. 393 (1857).

“All persons born in the limits and under the actual obedience of the United States were its “natural-born citizens”; and it is in this sense that the phrase is used in section one of article two of the constitution.”

John Joseph Lalor, Cyclopædia of political science, political economy, and of the political history of the United States, Volume 2, pg. 948 (1883).

And of course there are citations that support your position, although they largely speak of birth to American "parents" or "citizens" plural:

“Citizens may be divided into two classes : natural born and alien born. Natural-born citizens are of two kinds: native born—those born of either American or alien parents within the jurisdiction of the United Slates, and foreign born—those born of American parents without the Jurisdiction of the United States.”

John Clark Ridpath, The standard American encyclopedia of arts, sciences, history, biography, geography, statistics, and general knowledge, Volume 8, pg 3058 (1897).

“NATURAL BORN CITIZENS. A natural-born citizen of the United States is one who is a citizen by reason of his place of birth or the citizenship of his father. The two classes of naturalized and natural born citizens are thus mutually exclusive, and together constitute the entire citizen body of the United States. ”

Andrew C. McLaughlin & Albert Bushnell Hart ( Ed.), CYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN GOVERNMENT Vol. 2 (1914).

“It is now generally assumed that the term “natural born” is synonymous with “native born.” “It [therefore] is clear enough that native-born citizens are eligible [for the presidency] and that naturalized citizens are not.” There is a general agreement among commentators, whether or not they are advocates of an originalist approach to constitutional interpretation, that “whether someone born of American parents abroad would be considered a natural born citizen” is an open question.”

Lawrence Freedman, An Idea Whose Time Has Come–The Curious History, Uncertain Effect, and Need for Amendment of the “Natural Born Citizen” Requirement for the Presidency, 52 St. Louis U. L.J. 137, 143 (2007)

I found these quotes at this website: https://nativeborncitizen.wordpress.com/natural-born-quotes-2/