Ted Cruz's Eligibility Goes to Court in Chicago

Sideshow: Ted Cruz's Eligibility Goes to Court in Chicago

Posted on Saturday the 20th of February 2016, by Joe A. Gilbertson: Guest writer

Since it came up in the debate raised by competitor Donald Trump, the eligibility of Presidential hopeful Senator Ted Cruz has been on a low buzz.

Cruz was born in Canada, his mother an American Citizen, his father Cuban.   While this qualifies him as an American Citizen, it is questioned as to whether he meets the "natural born Citizen" clause of the Constitution.

We call this a sideshow, because it is largely irrelevant.  The odds of a non-partisan court throwing Cruz off of a ballot are almost null. As we mentioned previously, this is actually good for Cruz, since it has little impact at this stage, and it will be a tired issue by the time the general election comes around.

There is a danger one of the suits will hit home and knock Cruz off of a ballot, after which Cruz would need to scramble through an appeals court.  This would elevate the issue and perhaps cost him support from currently undecided voters.

In Chicago, an Illinois voter named Lawrence Joyce, who has objected to Cruz's placement on the Illinois primary ballot next month, will have his case heard in the Circuit Court of Cook County in Chicago.

In another case in New York, Barry Korman and William Gallo filed to remove Cruz from the New York primary ballot in state court in Manhattan.  Another case was already filed in Federal Court in Houston Texas.

The Constitution States:  "No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States."

According to sources, no current legal definition exists to define the term "natural born."  The only past definition, which would favor Cruz, was The Naturalization Act of 1790, which stated ""the children of citizens of the United States, that may be born beyond sea, or out of the limits of the United States, shall be considered as natural-born citizens."  But this was dropped from immigration law after 1795.

A chief antagonist to Cruz is his old law professor from Harvard, Lawrence Tribe, described by sources as very liberal.