![]() ![]() The Framers, of course, would have been intimately familiar with these statutes and the way they used terms like “natural born,” since the statutes were binding law in the colonies before the Revolutionary War. 5, § 3 (1708) see also British Nationality Act, 1730, 4 Geo. to all Intents, Constructions, and Purposes whatsoever.” 6 × 6. ![]() These statutes provided that children born abroad to subjects of the British Empire were “natural-born Subjects . . . Both confirm that the original meaning of the phrase “natural born Citizen” includes persons born abroad who are citizens from birth based on the citizenship of a parent.Īs to the British practice, laws in force in the 1700s recognized that children born outside of the British Empire to subjects of the Crown were subjects themselves and explicitly used “natural born” to encompass such children. The Supreme Court has long recognized that two particularly useful sources in understanding constitutional terms are British common law 3 × 3. While some constitutional issues are truly difficult, with framing-era sources either nonexistent or contradictory, here, the relevant materials clearly indicate that a “natural born Citizen” means a citizen from birth with no need to go through naturalization proceedings. citizen without regard to whether the birth takes place in Canada, the Canal Zone, or the continental United States. And Congress has made equally clear from the time of the framing of the Constitution to the current day that, subject to certain residency requirements on the parents, someone born to a U.S. citizen at birth with no need to go through a naturalization proceeding at some later time. All the sources routinely used to interpret the Constitution confirm that the phrase “natural born Citizen” has a specific meaning: namely, someone who was a U.S. In addition to requiring thirty-five years of age and fourteen years of residency, the Constitution limits the presidency to “a natural born Citizen.” 1 × 1. The Constitution directly addresses the minimum qualifications necessary to serve as President. citizen at birth is somehow not constitutionally eligible to serve as President simply because he was delivered at a hospital abroad. We may have different ideas about the ideal candidate in the next presidential election, but we agree on one important principle: voters should be able to choose from all constitutionally eligible candidates, free from spurious arguments that a U.S. We have both had the privilege of heading the Office of the Solicitor General during different administrations.
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