Qualifications for President and the “Natural Born” Citizenship Eligibility Requirement
Considering the history of the constitutional provision, the clause’s apparent intent, the English common law expressly applicable in the American colonies and in all of the original states, the common use and meaning of the phrase “natural born” subject in England and the American colonies in the 1700s, and the subsequent action of the first Congress in enacting the Naturalization Act of 1790 (expressly defining the term “natural born citizen” to include those born abroad to U.S. citizens),[1] it appears that the most logical inferences would indicate that the phrase “natural born Citizen” would mean a person who is entitled to U.S. citizenship “by birth” or “at birth.” Such interpretation, as evidenced by over a century of American case law, would include as natural born citizens those born in the United States and subject to its jurisdiction regardless of the citizenship status of one’s parents,[2] or those born abroad of one or more parents who are U.S. citizens (as recognized by statute),[3] as opposed to a person who is not a citizen by birth and is thus an “alien” required to go through the legal process of naturalization to become a U.S. citizen.[4]
The weight of scholarly legal and historical opinion, as well as the consistent case law in the United States, also supports the notion that “natural born Citizen” means one who is a U.S. citizen “at birth” or “by birth.”[5] The Constitution of the United States of America, Analysis and Interpretation, notes that “[w]hatever the term ‘natural born’ means, it no doubt does not include a person who is ‘naturalized,’” and, after discussing historical and legal precedents and arguments, concludes that “[t]here is reason to believe… that the phrase includes persons who
- ↑ Act of March 26, 1790, 1 Stat. 103, 104.
- ↑ U.S Const. amend. XIV; 8 U.S.C. §1401(a); see Lynch v. Clarke, 3 N.Y. Leg. Obs. 236, 242, 244 (1 Sand. ch. 583) (1844); United States v. Rhodes, 27 F. Cas. 785 (1 Abb. 28) (Cir.Ct.Ky 1866); In re Look Tin Sing, 21 F. 905 (Cal. Cir. 1884); United States v. Wong Kim Ark, 169 U.S. 649, 658, 661–662, 693 (1898); Kwok Jan Fat v. White, 253 U.S. 454, 457 (1920); Yamauchi v. Rogers, 181 F. Supp. 934, 935–936 (D.D.C. 1960); Diaz-Salazar v. INS, 700 F.2d 1156, 1160 (7th Cir. 1982), cert. denied, 462 U.S. 1132 (1983); Mustata v. U.S. Department of Justice, 179 F.3d 1017, 1019 (6th Cir. 1999); Hollander v. McCain, 566 F.Supp.2d 63, 66 (D.N.H. 2008); Ankeny v. Governor of the State of Indiana, 916 NE2d 678 (2009), petition to transfer jurisdiction denied (Ind. Supreme Court, April 5, 2010); United States v. Carlos Jesus Marguet-Pillado, 648 F.3d 1001, 1006 (9th Cir. 2011).
- ↑ See, e.g.,, 8 U.S.C. §1401(c),(d),(e) and (g); Robinson v. Bowen, 567 F.Supp.2d 1144, 145–146 (N.D. Cal. 2008); United States v. Carlos Jesus Marguet-Pillado, 648 F.3d 1001, 1006 (9th Cir. 2011).
- ↑ Schneider v. Rusk, 377 U.S. 163, 165 (1964).
- ↑ Edward S. Corwin, The President, Officer and Powers, 1787–1984, at 38–39 (5th Revised ed. by Bland, Hindson, and Peltason, 1984); James H. Kettner, The Development of American Citizenship, 1608–1870 (U.N.C. Press 1978); Gordon, Mailman, & Yale-Loehr, Immigration Law and Procedure, §§91 and 92 (rev. ed. 2010); Jill Pryor, The Natural Born Citizen Clause and Presidential Eligibility: An Approach to Resolving Two Hundred Years of Uncertainty, 97 Yale L.J. 881 (1988); Charles Gordon, Who Can Be President of the United States: The Unresolved Enigma, 28 Md. L. Rev. 1 (1968); Richard W. Flourny, (Assistant Solicitor, Department of State), Dual Nationality and Election, 30 Yale Law Journal 545, 550 (1921); Michael Nelson, Constitutional Qualifications for President, Presidential Studies Quarterly, Vol. XVII, Number 2, at 384–391 (Spring 1987); Warren Freedman, Comment, Presidential Timber: Foreign Born Children of American Parents, 35 Cornell L.Q. 357 (1950); Frederick Van Dyne (Assistant Solicitor of the Department of State), Citizenship of the United States (New York 1904); J. Michael Medina, The Presidential Qualification Clause in the Bicentennial Year: The Need to Eliminate the Natural Born Citizen Requirement, XII Okla. City Univ. L. R. 253, 268 (1987); Akil Amar, Natural Born Killjoy, Why the Constitution Won’t Let Immigrants Run for President, and Why That Should Change, Legal Affairs, 16, 17 (March–April 2004): “… the presidency and vice presidency were reserved for citizens by birth.” For the opposing view, see Isidor Blum, Is Gov. George Romney Eligible to Be President?, N.Y.L.J., October 16 & 17, 1967, at 1, which contends that only those born “in” the United States are “natural born” citizens under common law principles. In another analyses, one author would include the children of U.S. citizens who are born abroad when one or both of the parents are abroad under the direction of and officially representing, or on duty for, the United States Government, either in the military or in a civilian governmental role. Christina Lohman, Presidential Eligibility: The Meaning of the Natural-Born Citizen Clause, 36 Gonzaga Law Review 349, 369 (2000/2001).
