Why Ted Cruz, born in Canada, can run for president

“He was naturally born there”.

Under either a textualist or a “living Constitution” theory, Cruz is a “natural born Citizen”, eligible to be president; under an originalist view, however, he isn’t.

Republicans have split on the Cruz controversy.

Senator Paul is correct in that the Supreme Court has never ruled on this; and so is Senator McCain in indicating that this is a legitimate issue; and so was Donald Trump in suggesting that Cruz seek a “declarative judgment”.

The upshot is that to an originalist, someone like Cruz – born in a foreign country (and therefore not a natural born citizen of the United States by jus soli) and to a Cuban citizen father (and therefore not a natural born citizen of the United States by jus sanguinis ) – is not eligible to be president. I think it will be brought up.

On Friday, the campaign of 2016 presidential candidate Ted Cruz released the birth certificate of Eleanor Darragh, Cruz’s mother, to the public after talks that the Texas senator may not be a “natural-born citizen” of the United States. Sen. I’m not a constitutional scholar on that, but I think it’s worth looking into.

Questions about Cruz’s eligibility for the White House have been in circulation for some time.

In his defense, Cruz has cited commentary from two legal authorities, Neal Katyal and Paul Clement, in a March 2015 Harvard Law Review article that said “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”.

In recent days, another debate over American citizenship has surfaced in the presidential election that centers on the eligibility of a foreign-born candidate for office. She’s been an American citizen all 81 years of her life. “Barry Goldwater was born in Arizona when it was territory when he ran in 1964”, said McCain in a Phoenix radio interview on the Chris Merrill Show last Wednesday.

“As Congress has recognized since the Founding, a person born overseas to a US citizen parent is generally a USA citizen from birth with no need for naturalization”.