Possibly accurately.Vrede wrote:They disagree, with nursemaid Solar accurately arguing that children of US citizens are "natural born" wherever they are born.rstrong wrote:Really? What do they think of (Canadian-born) Rafael "Ted" Cruz? Or (Panamanian-born, not a US citizen at birth) John McCain? ...
There are two common definitions for "natural born citizen"; "an American citizen at the moment of birth", and "born on American soil." The issue is unresolved, and will remain so until the Supreme Court rules on it.
The second definition isn't some birther-style rationalization with no legal backing:
Black's Law Dictionary - the most widely used law dictionary in the United States - defines "Natural Born Citizen" as "A person born within the jurisdiction of a national government". Cruz was born outside of US jurisdiction, so he does not meet that definition.
And that's how the law is currently applied. Anyone born in Puerto Rico is a U.S. citizen at the moment of birth. But since Puerto Rico is an unincorporated territory, not U.S. soil, those US citizens are not "natural born" US citizens and are not eligible to serve as U.S. president.
On the other hand, John McCain, though born to two US parents, met neither definition. He was born in Panama, a US national but NOT a US citizen. He got his US citizenship retroactively when Congress changed the rules 11 months after he was born. (And no, an overseas US base is not US soil.) Congress wisely granted an exemption to McCain - through a unanimous but non-binding Senate resolution sponsored by Hillary Clinton and Obama - so that he could run. Of course, his parents serving the country in the military overseas when McCain was born had a lot to do with it.
Had Obama been born overseas, he would not have been a US citizen. At the time there was a rule that if your were born to a US citizen and a non-US citizen who were residing overseas, and the US citizen had not resided in the US for five years after age 14, then you didn't get citizenship. Obama's mother was not old enough to qualify. (Of course this doesn't apply to Obama, since he wasn't born overseas. And while Ted Cruz WAS born overseas to just one US parent, his mother was old enough for Ted to get citizenship.)
Mitt Romney's father, George Romney, ran in the Republican presidential primaries in 1968 even though he was born in Mexico. He may have required an exemption similar to McCain's. (If Obama is a Kenyan because his father was from Kenya, then Mitt Romney is a Mexican.)
If Cruz gets the Republican nomination, he'd probably get an exemption like McCain's. Even without being born to parents serving overseas in the military. Far from opposing it, I think the Democrats would be overjoyed to go along with it.