Ted Cruz Eligibility for POTUS

[JRP1994]

     Saying that 2013 was a very eventful year for Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) would be a severe understatement. Beginning with his highly televised filibuster against the Affordable Care Act, and continuing throughout the federal government shutdown in October, the freshman, junior senator from the Lone Star State has enjoyed what has arguably been the fastest rise to political fame since Barack Obama. And, as was the case with Obama before him, pundits and prognosticators have already begin speculating about the possibility of Cruz, a Tea Party darling, running for President of the United States in 2016. There’s just one issue – Ted Cruz was not born in the United States – he was born in Canada.

     Political issues aside, a Cruz candidacy would certainly raise one very interesting legal question: Is Ted Cruz eligible to become President? The United States Constitution states, “No person except a natural born Citizen… shall be eligible to the Office of President. “(Art. 2, Sec. 1) In order to determine whether Sen. Cruz is a natural born citizen (and eligible to become President) or not, we must determine what constitutes a “natural born citizen”, and discern whether Sen. Cruz meets that definition.

     Unfortunately, while the Supreme Court of the United States has, at times, addressed the definition of “natural born citizen” relating to the eligibility requirement set forth in Article 2, none of the cases reviewed by the Court, as of yet, have dealt with a situation like Sen. Cruz’s. While the Court has repeatedly found that children born IN the United States to foreign/alien parents are natural born citizens, the Court has not yet reviewed a case like Sen. Cruz’s, in which a child is born OUTSIDE of the United States to parents who are U.S. citizens. Sen. Cruz was born in Calgary, Alberta. His mother was a natural born United States citizen, while his father was a Cuban immigrant to the United States. The fact of Cruz’s Canadian birth has prompted many to suggest that he is not a natural born citizen, and thus, ineligible to become President of the United States.

     However, while the Constitution and Supreme Court have been vague on this aspect of citizenship, the United States Code has addressed this issue. Specifically, this is addressed in the following section: “8 USC § 1401 - Nationals and Citizens of United States at Birth”

     Specifically, Section (g) of this statute addresses whether someone in Cruz’s situation would be a natural born citizen. It says:

          “The following shall be nationals and citizens of the United States at birth:”

               (g) a person born outside the geographical limits of the United States and its outlying possessions of parents one of whom is an alien, and the other a citizen of the United States who, prior to the birth of such person, was physically present in the United States or its outlying possessions for a period or periods totaling not less than five years, at least two of which were after attaining the age of fourteen years”

     Ted Cruz’s mother, Eleanor Darragh Cruz, was a natural-born citizen of the United States, born and raised in Delaware. Therefore, as he was born outside of the United States, Ted Cruz’s citizenship is dependent on whether his mother had lived in the United States for at least five years, at least two of which were after attaining the age of fourteen years.

     If Eleanor Darragh Cruz meets this requirement, then Ted Cruz is a citizen of the United States at birth, and meets the definition set forth in this statute of the United States Code.  If that is the case, Ted Cruz is to be considered a natural-born citizen of the United States, and is eligible to become President of the United States.

[SteveRogers]

     If Eleanor Darragh Cruz meets this requirement, then Ted Cruz is a citizen of the United States at birth, and meets the definition set forth in this statute of the United States Code.  If that is the case, Ted Cruz is to be considered a natural-born citizen of the United States, and is eligible to become President of the United States.

Correct. Case closed. Not that that will shut the birthers up entirely.

[JRP1994]

     If Eleanor Darragh Cruz meets this requirement, then Ted Cruz is a citizen of the United States at birth, and meets the definition set forth in this statute of the United States Code.  If that is the case, Ted Cruz is to be considered a natural-born citizen of the United States, and is eligible to become President of the United States.

Correct. Case closed. Not that that will shut the birthers up entirely.

Don't you love the irony of the fact that the Tea Partiers are going to have to argue the same line of reasoning that they flatly rejected when the candidate in question was Barack Obama?

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Small technicality:

At the time of Cruz's birth, subsection (g) read as follows:
 (g) a person born outside the geographical limits of the United States and its outlying possessions of parents one of whom is an alien, and the other a citizen of the United States who, prior to the birth of such person, was physically present in the United States or its outlying possessions for a period or periods totaling not less than five ten years, at least two five of which were after attaining the age of fourteen years”

But Cruz's mother, just as Obama's, had Barack been born outside the US,  easily met this more extensive requirement.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

He is eligible. Whether he will actually win is another question.

[Lincoln Republican]

I'm not saying I support Cruz for President, but he is one of the absolute smartest public figures today, and to boot, one of the best speakers.

Yes, he does qualify constitutionally, as well as in other ways, to become President of the U.S.

Even Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz, who had Cruz as one of his students, says Cruz is eligible to become President.

http://theconservativetreehouse.com/2013/05/10/alan-dershowitz-talks-about-ted-cruz-without-a-doubt-he-is-among-the-smartest-students-ive-ever-had/

Alan Dershowitz Talks About Ted Cruz: “Without a doubt he is among the smartest students I’ve ever had”…

Famed Harvard Law School professor Alan Dershowitz ranks Sen. Ted Cruz among the school’s smartest students, adding that the Canada-born Texan can run for president in 2016.