My Turn: Yes, Ted Cruz is eligible to be president
Gaughan: The law clearly defines a natural born citizen, and Ted Cruz meets the requirement.
To put it mildly, Cruz does not emphasize his Canadian background on the campaign trail. He styles himself as the quintessential arch-conservative Texan, right down to his cowboy boots and right wing politics.
Nevertheless, the fact is that Cruz was born in the Canadian city of Calgary, Alberta in December 1970. Before Cruz’s birth, his mother, an American citizen, and his father, a Cuban citizen, moved to Canada to work in Alberta’s oil industry.
Can a man born in Canada be president?
Cruz’s unique background has naturally raised questions about his eligibility to serve as president. Although he renounced his Canadian citizenship in 2014, Cruz was a Canadian citizen for most of his life. Canada has birthright citizenship just like the United States, which means that Cruz automatically became a Canadian at birth. Moreover, Cruz did not even live in the U.S. until 1974, when his parents moved to Texas.
Does the U.S. Constitution permit a native-born Canadian to serve as president?
The answer is yes.
MY TURN:No way is Cruz eligible to be president
A nation of laws
The constitutional analysis turns on the definition of “natural born” citizen. Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution states: “No Person except a natural born Citizen … shall be eligible to the Office of President.”
Crucially, under U.S. law, Cruz was an American citizen at birth. Then and now, federal law provides that a child born abroad to an American parent is a U.S. citizen as long as the parent spent a significant period of time in the U.S. before going abroad. Cruz’s mother spent the first 30 years of her life in the U.S. before her son’s birth. Accordingly, he received automatic American citizenship at birth.
First Congress defined "natural born"
The fact that Cruz became a U.S. citizen at birth is the reason that constitutional scholars believe he is eligible to serve as president.
Although the Constitution does not define the term “natural born citizen,” one year after the Constitution’s adoption Congress passed legislation declaring that children born abroad to American parents were “natural born” citizens of the United States. The First Congress’s use of the term “natural born” citizens indicates that the original meaning of the term includes any child who becomes an American citizen at birth.
Cruz clearly meets that definition. Even though born in Canada, he was a “natural born” American citizen by virtue of his mother’s American citizenship.
Thus, from a constitutional perspective, Cruz is eligible to serve as president.
Anthony J. Gaughan is an associate professor of law at Drake University. This is an excerpt from Gaughan’s story, which originally was published at theconversation.com.