Guest Editorial
By Lawrence Sellin, PhD | january 13, 2016
Ted Cruz should provide evidence of his Constitutional eligibility for the Presidency
Rafael Edward "Ted" Cruz was born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada on December 22, 1970 and was a Canadian citizen until he officially renounced it on May 14, 2014. At the time of his birth, Cruz's father was a citizen of Cuba and his mother was a U.S. citizen. It means that Cruz was still a Canadian citizen when he was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2012.
It was possible for Cruz to claim U.S. citizenship through his mother, if his parents filed a Consular Report of Birth Abroad of a Citizen of the United States of America (CRBA) with the nearest U.S. embassy or consulate after the birth to document that the child is a U.S. citizen. If the U.S. embassy or consulate determines that the child acquired U.S. citizenship at birth, a consular officer will approve the CRBA application and the Department of State will issue a CRBA, also called a Form FS-240, in the child's name. According to U.S. law, a CRBA is proof of U.S. citizenship and may be used to obtain a U.S. passport. Parents may also choose to apply only for a U.S. passport for the child, in lieu of a CRBA.
According to the Department of State web site:
"Parents of a child born abroad to a U.S. citizen or citizens should apply for a CRBA and/or a U.S. passport for the child as soon as possible. Failure to promptly document a child who meets the statutory requirements for acquiring U.S. citizenship at birth may cause problems for the parents and the child when attempting to establish the child's U.S. citizenship and eligibility for the rights and benefits of U.S. citizenship, including entry into the United States. By law, U.S. citizens, including dual nationals, must use a U.S. passport to enter and leave the United States."
Cruz came to the U.S. with his parents in 1974, but no evidence has been provided to indicate that his parents filed a CRBA form with the U.S. Government or if Ted Cruz was issued a U.S. passport prior to entering the country. All Freedom of Information Act requests filed to obtain documents confirming the true official U.S. citizenship status of Ted Cruz have been denied and will remain sealed until he agrees to allow any such records to be released.
Ted Cruz may be a U.S. citizen, but that does not automatically make him a natural born citizen, which is a Constitutional requirement for the Presidency.
Despite the misinformation being disseminated by our corrupt political-media establishment and the Saul Alinsky-like lobbing of the pejorative "birther" as a means to deflect or suppress discussion of the issue; there is, in my view, no ambiguity.
According to Article II, Section I, Clause 5 of the Constitution, the narrative of the 14th Amendment, the Supreme Court case of Minor v. Happersett (1875), other legal opinions, precedence and historical background, Presidential eligibility requires that a candidate be born a US citizen of two US citizen parents at the time of birth.
If you are unwilling to accept the exhaustive legal documentation regarding the true meaning of "natural born" citizenship, you may try the common sense question:
Why has every President since Martin van Buren been a US citizen at birth of two citizen parents except Barack Obama and Chester A. Arthur, who lied about his personal history?
In order to understand the current political machinations surrounding the "natural born" Presidential eligibility debate, it is important to know that there have been numerous attempts both by Democrats and Republicans to amend the Article II "natural born citizen" clause, starting in 1975 when New York Democrat House Rep. Jonathon B. Bingham introduced House Joint Resolution 33, which clearly, even then, recognized the distinction between "citizen" and "natural born citizen:"
"Provides that a citizen of the United States otherwise eligible to hold the Office of President shall not be ineligible because such citizen is not a natural born citizen."
It appears that our corrupt political-media establishment, having failed to change the Constitution by legal amendment, achieved it in 2008 through an electoral fait accompli, when Obama reached the Oval Office even though, by his own admission, he does not meet the two parent citizen standard.
A detailed account of how, in 2008, a Constitutional requirement was erased by political legerdemain is described here.
I like most of the policies espoused by Ted Cruz, but he does his candidacy and the nation no service by not addressing the eligibility question head-on.
You can be sure the Democrats will.
Lawrence Sellin, Ph.D. is a retired colonel with 29 years of service in the US Army Reserve and a veteran of Afghanistan and Iraq. Colonel Sellin is the author of "Restoring the Republic: Arguments for a Second American Revolution." He receives email at [email protected].
