Showing posts with label qualification for presidency. Show all posts
Showing posts with label qualification for presidency. Show all posts

Thursday, January 7, 2016

Is Ted Cruz a "Natural-Born" American Citizen? A Purely Textual Response

Donald Trump and Anne Coulter have challenged the right of Ted Cruz to become President on the ground that, since he was born in Canada, he is not a "natural-born citizen" of the United States as required by Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution. Many esteemed legal scholars, including Neal Katyal and Paul Clement, have weighed in on the issue, most of whom take the position that Cruz is indeed a natural-born citizen. I agree with them, and offer below a short, simple semantic argument on Cruz' behalf.