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It has been suggested that this article be merged with Birthright citizenship in the United States of America and Talk:Natural born citizen of the United States#Merger proposal. (Discuss) Proposed since February 2009.

The United States Constitution requires that Presidents (and Vice Presidents) of the United States be natural born citizens of the United States.

Constitutional provisions

The special term "Natural Born Citizen" is used in particular as a requirement for eligibility to serve as President or Vice President of the United States. Section 1 of Article Two of the United States Constitution contains the clause:

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.

Additionally, the Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution states that: "o person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States." The grandfather provision of the Natural Born Citizen Clause thus covered the only exceptions to the natural born requirement for the first several presidents and vice-presidents, who were citizens at the time of the adoption of the Constitution, but had been born as British subjects before the American Revolution.

Although only dealing with the concept of citizenship and not necessarily natural born citizenship, the Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution provides an additional source of constitutional doctrine stating that birth "in the United States" and subjection to U.S. jurisdiction at the time of birth, entitles one to citizenship:

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.

Definitions and sources

One possible source of the natural born citizen clause can be traced to a letter of July 25, 1787, from John Jay (who was born in New York) to George Washington (who was born in Virginia), presiding officer of the Constitutional Convention. John Jay wrote: "Permit me to hint, whether it would be wise and seasonable to provide a strong check to the admission of Foreigners into the administration of our national Government; and to declare expressly that the Commander in Chief of the American army shall not be given to nor devolve on, any but a natural born Citizen." (Underlining in the original) There was no debate, and this qualification for the office of the Presidency was introduced by the drafting Committee of Eleven, and then adopted without discussion by the Constitutional Convention.

The term "natural born Citizen" has never been defined by the Courts in the course of a Presidential qualification challenge. It is believed by some people, including some of the so-called "birthers," that this provision means that only persons born on U.S. soil to two U.S. citizens are “natural born Citizens” of the nation and eligible to become President. There are others who believe that anyone who acquires citizenship by any means other than naturalization is a "natural born Citizen" and eligible for the Presidency. In between these extremes lie gray areas, some controversy, and various obiter dicta from the courts. A majority of commentators today argue that the Presidential Eligibility clause incorporates both common-law (jus soli) and English statutory (jus sanguinis) principles.

Legal opinions

1857 opinion of Supreme Court Justice Benjamin R. Curtis

In his opinion dissenting from the decision in Dred Scott v. Sanford 60 U.S. (19 How.) 393 (1857) Justice Benjamin R. Curtis wrote in considerable detail on this topic. His writing there is too lengthy to requote here in entirety; partially requoted, Justice Curtis wrote,

The first section of the second article of the Constitution uses the language "a natural-born citizen." It thus assumes that citizenship may be acquired by birth. Undoubtedly, this language of the Constitution was used in reference to that principle of public law, well understood in the history of this country at the time of the adoption of the Constitution, which referred Citizenship to the place of birth. At the Declaration of Independence, and ever since, the received general doctrine has been, in conformity with the common law, that free persons born within either of the colonies, were the subjects of the King; that by the Declaration of independence, and the consequent acquisition of sovereignty by the several States, all such persons ceased to be subjects, and became citizens of the several States, .

The Constitution having recognized that persons born within the several States are citizens of the United States, one of four things must be true:
  First. That the constitution itself has described what native-born persons shall or shall not be citizens of such State, and thereby be citizens of the United States; or,
  Second:. That it has empowered Congress to do so; or,
  Third. That all free persons, born within the several States, are citizens of the United States; or,
  Fourth. That it is left to each State to determine what free persons, born within its limits, shall be citizens of such State, and thereby be citizens of the United States.
If there is such a thing as Citizenship of the United States acquired by birth within the States, which the Constitution expressly recognizes, and no one denies, then those four alternatives embrace the entire subject, and it only remains to select that one which is true.

The answer is obvious. The Constitution has left to the States the determination what person, born within their respective limits, shall acquire by birth citizenship of the United States;

The language "a natural-born citizen" in the constitution referred to by Justice Curtis is Article II, Section 1, Clause 5, which reads, "No person except a natural born Citizen, shall be eligible for the Office of President; ."

1862 opinion of the U.S. Attorney General

In 1862, Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase sent a query to Attorney General Edward Bates asking whether or not "colored men" can be citizens of the United States. Attorney General Bates reaponded on On November 29, 1862, with a 27 page opinion concluding, "I conclude that the free man of color, mentioned in your letter, if born in the United States, is a citizen of the United States, ... ." In the course of that opinion, Bates commented at some length on the nature of citizenship, and wrote,

... our constitution, in speaking of natural born citizens, uses no affirmative language to make them such, but only recognizes and reaffirms the universal principle, common to all nations, and as old as political society, that the people born in a country do constitute the nation, and, as individuals, are natural members of the body politic.

Legislation and executive branch policy

The requirements for citizenship, and its very definition in American statute law, have changed since the Constitution was ratified in 1788. Congress first recognized the citizenship of children born to U.S. parents overseas on March 26, 1790, stating that "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: Provided, That the right of citizenship shall not descend to persons whose fathers have never been resident in the United States." To date, the Naturalization Act of 1790 has been the only U.S. law explicitly conferring "natural born" citizenship. In 1795, Congress removed the words "natural born" from the law; the Naturalization Act of 1795 says only that foreign-born children of American parents "shall be considered as citizens of the United States."

All persons born in the United States, except those not subject to the jurisdiction of the U.S. government (such as children of ambassadors or other foreign diplomats) are citizens under the Fourteenth Amendment. Additionally, under sections 301–309 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (restated in sections 1401–1409 of Title 8 of the United States Code), current U.S. law defines numerous other categories of individuals born abroad, as well as people born in most U.S. territories and possessions, as being "nationals and citizens of the United States at birth." The phrase "natural born citizen," however, does not appear in the current statutes dealing with citizenship at birth.

The law governing the citizenship of children born outside the U.S. to one or more U.S.-citizen parents has varied considerably over time. Current U.S. statutes define various categories of individuals born overseas as "citizens at birth," including (for example) all persons "born outside of the United States and its outlying possessions of parents both of whom are citizens of the United States and one of whom has had a residence in the United States or one of its outlying possessions, prior to the birth of such person."

The definition of the "United States", for nationality purposes, was expanded in 1952 to add Guam, and in 1986 it was expanded again to include the Northern Mariana Islands. Persons born in these territories (in addition to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands) currently acquire U.S. citizenship at birth on the same terms as persons born in other parts of the United States. The category of "outlying possessions of the United States" (whose inhabitants generally have U.S. "nationality" but not U.S. "citizenship") is now restricted to American Samoa and Swains Island.

Regarding people born at U.S. military bases in foreign countries, current U.S. State Department policy (as codified in the department's Foreign Affairs Manual) reads:

Despite widespread popular belief, U.S. military installations abroad and U.S. diplomatic or consular facilities are not part of the United States within the meaning of the 14th Amendment. A child born on the premises of such a facility is not subject to the jurisdiction of the United States and does not acquire U.S. citizenship by reason of birth."

The foregoing section of the FAM only addresses citizenship by jus soli: In short, what is the geographic scope of the "United States"? This does not affect citizenship via jus sanguinis, i.e. those who are born abroad to U.S. citizens and who otherwise meet the qualifications for statutory citizenship. The State Department also asserts that "the fact that someone is a natural born citizen pursuant to a statute does not necessarily imply that he or she is such a citizen for Constitutional purposes." This position seems to be at odds with the fact that Congress in 1790 felt it could confer natural born citizenship on those born abroad to American parents. Ultimately, it will take a Supreme Court decision to settle the matter once an American citizen born abroad runs for and wins the presidency.

Case law

Supreme Court cases relating to citizenship

Although the U.S. Supreme Court has never specifically determined the meaning of "natural born citizen," they have occasionally discussed the term as obiter dictum in cases concerning citizenship.

• Dred Scott v. Sandford, 60 U.S. 393 (1857): In regard to the "natural born citizen" clause, the dissent states that such citizenship is acquired by place of birth (jus soli), not through blood or lineage (jus sanguinis):

  The first section of the second article of the Constitution uses the language, 'a natural born citizen.' It thus assumes that citizenship may be acquired by birth. Undoubtedly, this language of the Constitution was used in reference to that principle of public law, well understood in this country at the time of the adoption of the Constitution, which referred citizenship to the place of birth.

  (Much of the majority opinion in this case was overturned by the 14th Amendment in 1868.)

• Elk v. Wilkins, 83 U.S. 36 (1872): The Court denied Elk, a Native American, the right to vote as a US citizen even though he was born on US soil, because he was born on an Indian Reservation. Elk was not born subject to the jurisdiction of the US, because he “owed immediate allegiance to” his tribe, a vassal or quasi-nation, and not to the United States. The Court held Elk was not “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States at birth.

  The evident meaning of these last words is, not merely subject in some respect or degree to the jurisdiction of the United States, but completely subject to their political jurisdiction, and owing them direct and immediate allegiance.

This ruling was rendered moot when native Americans were granted citizenship in the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924.

• Slaughterhouse Cases, 83 U.S. 36 (1872): The Court discussed the Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment:

  the phrase 'subject to the jurisdiction thereof' was intended to exclude from its operation children of ministers, consuls, and citizens or subjects of foreign states, born within the United States.

• Minor v. Happersett, 88 U.S. 162 (1874): The Court stated (pp. 167–68):

  The Constitution does not, in words, say who shall be natural-born citizens. Resort must be had elsewhere to ascertain that. At common-law, with the nomenclature of which the framers of the Constitution were familiar, it was never doubted that all children born in a country of parents who were its citizens became themselves, upon their birth, citizens also. These were natives, or natural-born citizens, as distinguished from aliens or foreigners. Some authorities go further and include as citizens children born within the jurisdiction without reference to the citizenship of their parents. As to this class there have been doubts, but never as to the first. For the purposes of this case it is not necessary to solve these doubts. It is sufficient for everything we have now to consider that all children born of citizen parents within the jurisdiction are themselves citizens.

  (The issue of this case was whether the 14th Amendment gave women the right to vote. Since the subject of the case was born in the US of two citizen parents, the meaning of "natural born citizen" was not an issue. The court merely pointed out that two definitions have been offered, then declined to rule, saying that since the subject fell under the first definition that all agreed on the court did not need to rule on the matter.)

• United States v. Wong Kim Ark, 169 U.S. 649 (1898): In this case, the majority of the Court held that a child born in U.S. territory to parents who were subjects of the emperor of China and who were not eligible for U.S. citizenship, but who had “a permanent domicile and residence in the United States, and are there carrying on business, and are not employed in any diplomatic or official capacity under the emperor of China” was a U.S. Citizen.

The Court stated that:

The constitution nowhere defines the meaning of these words , either by way of inclusion or of exclusion, except in so far as this is done by the affirmative declaration that 'all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States.'

Since there was no definition of "natural born citizen" found in the constitution, the majority adopted the common law of England that was a carry over from feudal times.

The court ruled:

It thus clearly appears that by the law of England for the last three centuries, beginning before the settlement of this country, and continuing to the present day, aliens, while residing in the dominions possessed by the crown of England, were within the allegiance, the obedience, the faith or loyalty, the protection, the power, and the jurisdiction of the English sovereign; and therefore every child born in England of alien parents was a natural-born subject, unless the child of an ambassador or other diplomatic agent of a foreign state, or of an alien enemy in hostile occupation of the place where the child was born.

III. The same rule was in force in all the English colonies upon this continent down to the time of the Declaration of Independence, and in the United States afterwards, and continued to prevail under the constitution as originally established.

The dissent argued that the meaning of the “subject to the jurisdiction” language found in 14th Amendment was the same as that found in the 1866 Civil Rights Act, which provides: “All persons born in the United States, and not subject to any foreign power, excluding Indians not taxed, are hereby declared to be citizens of the United States.” On the meaning of “natural born citizen,” the dissent also cited the preeminent treatise on international law by Emerich de Vattel entitled “The Law of Nations” which was known to have influenced the drafters of the original constitution: "The natives, or natural-born citizens, are those born in the country, of parents who are citizens." The dissenters also noted that:

it is unreasonable to conclude that 'natural born citizen' applied to everybody born within the geographical tract known as the United States, irrespective of circumstances; and that the children of foreigners, happening to be born to them while passing through the country, whether of royal parentage or not, or whether of the Mongolian, Malay, or other race, were eligible to the presidency, while children of our citizens, born abroad, were not.

• Perkins v. Elg, 307 U.S. 325 (1939): The U.S. Supreme Court concluded that Marie Elizabeth Elg, who was born in the United States of Swedish parents naturalized in the United States, had not lost her birthright U.S. citizenship because of her removal during minority to Sweden and was entitled to all the rights and privileges of that U.S. citizenship. In this case, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the decree that declared Elg "to be a natural born citizen of the United States."

• Schneider v. Rusk, 377 U.S. 163 (1964): The Court voided a statute that provided that a naturalized citizen should lose his United States citizenship if, following naturalization, he resided continuously for three years in his former homeland.

  We start from the premise that the rights of citizenship of the native-born and of the naturalized person are of the same dignity and are coextensive. The only difference drawn by the Constitution is that only the 'natural born' citizen is eligible to be President.

• Rogers v. Bellei, 401 U.S. 815 (1971): Reviews the history of citizenship legislation and of the Fourteenth Amendment's Citizenship Clause.

Standing in eligibility challenges

Several United States District Courts have ruled that private citizens do not have standing to challenge the eligibility of candidates to appear on a presidential election ballot. Alternatively, there is a statutory method by which the eligibility of the President-elect to take office may be challenged in Congress.

Some legal scholars assert that, even if eligibility challenges are nonjusticiable in lower federal courts, and are not undertaken in Congress, there are other avenues for adjudication, such as an action in state court in regard to ballot access.

Various other opinions

There is dispute regarding whether the foreign-born children of U.S. citizens are natural born citizens. A minority view interprets the Constitution as meaning that a person either is born in the United States or is a naturalized citizen. According to this view, in order to be a "natural born citizen," a person must be born in the United States, or possibly an incorporated territory; otherwise, they are a citizen "by law" and are therefore a "statutory citizen," (not necessarily, however, a naturalized citizen, which implies a pre-existing foreign citizenship).

Presidential candidates whose eligibility was questioned

While every President and Vice President to date (as of 2009) is widely believed either to have been a citizen at the adoption of the Constitution in 1789 or to have been born in the United States, one U.S. President (Chester A. Arthur) and some presidential candidates either were not born or were suspected of not having been born in a U.S. state. This does not necessarily mean that they were ineligible, only that there was some controversy (usually minor) about their eligibility, which may have been resolved in favor of eligibility.

• Chester A. Arthur (1829–1886), 21st president of the United States, was rumored to have been born in Canada. This was never demonstrated by his political opponents, although they raised the objection during his vice-presidential campaign. He was born to a U.S. citizen mother and a father from Ireland, who was eventually naturalized as a U.S. citizen. Arthur was sworn in as president when President Garfield died after being shot. Since his Irish father William was naturalized 14 years after Chester Arthur's birth, his natural born citizenship status at birth is unclear, because he was born before the 1868 ratification of the 14th Amendment that provided any person born on United States territory and subject to the jurisdiction thereof was considered a U.S. citizen, and because he may have also held at least United Kingdom citizenship jus sanguinis through his father.

• George Romney (1907–1995), who ran for the Republican party nomination in 1968, was born in Mexico to U.S. parents. Romney’s grandfather had emigrated to Mexico in 1886 with his three wives and children after Utah outlawed polygamy. Romney's monogamous parents retained their U.S. citizenship and returned to the United States with him in 1912. Romney never received Mexican citizenship, because the country's nationality laws had been restricted to jus-sanguinis statutes due to prevailing politics aimed against American settlers.

• Barry Goldwater (1909–1998) was born in Phoenix, in what was then the Arizona Territory of the United States. During his presidential campaign in 1964, there was a minor controversy over Goldwater's having been born in Arizona when it was not yet a state.

• Lowell Weicker (born 1931), the former Connecticut Senator, Representative, and Governor, entered the race for the Republican party nomination of 1980 but dropped out before voting in the primaries began. He was born in Paris, France to parents who were U.S. citizens. His father was an executive for E. R. Squibb & Sons and his mother was the Indian-born daughter of a British general.

• Róger Calero (born 1969) was born in Nicaragua and ran as the Socialist Worker's Party presidential candidate in 2004 and 2008. In 2008, Calero appeared on the ballot in Delaware, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York and Vermont.

• John McCain (born 1936), who ran for the Republican party nomination in 2000 and was the Republican nominee in 2008, was born in Colón, Panama, near (but not part of ) the Panama Canal Zone of two U.S. parents, who were at the time serving at the Coco Solo Naval Air Station. In March 2008 McCain was held eligible for Presidency in an opinion paper by former Solicitor General Ted Olson and Harvard Law Professor Laurence H. Tribe. In April 2008 the U.S. Senate approved a non-binding resolution recognizing McCain's status as a natural born citizen. In September 2008 U.S. District Judge William Alsup stated obiter in his ruling that it is "highly probable" that McCain is a natural born citizen, although he acknowledged the possibility that the applicable laws had been enacted after the fact and applied only retroactively. These views have been criticized by Gabriel J. Chin, Professor of Law at the University of Arizona, who argues that McCain was at birth a citizen of Panama and was only retroactively declared a born citizen under 8 U.S.C. § 1403, because at the time of his birth and with regard to the Canal Zone the Supreme Court's Insular Cases overruled the Naturalization Act of 1795, which would otherwise have declared McCain a U.S. citizen immediately at birth. In any case, the US Foreign Affairs Manual states that "it has never been determined definitively by a court whether a person who acquired U.S. citizenship by birth abroad to U.S. citizens is a natural born citizen ". In Rogers v. Bellei the Supreme Court only ruled that "children born abroad of Americans are not citizens within the citizenship clause of the 14th Amendment", and didn't elaborate on the natural born status.
• Barack Obama (born 1961), 44th president of the United States, was allegedly born in Honolulu, Hawaii to a U.S. citizen mother and a British subject father from the Kenya Colony of the United Kingdom. Before and after the 2008 presidential election, the argument was made that he was not a natural born citizen. On June 12, 2008, the Obama presidential campaign launched a website to counter what it described as smears by his opponents, including these challenges to his eligibility. The most prominent issue raised against Obama was the assertion that he was not actually born in Hawaii. In two other lawsuits, the plaintiffs argued that it was irrelevant whether he was born in Hawaii, but argued instead that he was nevertheless not a natural born citizen because his citizenship at birth was, in part, determined by the British Nationality Act. The relevant courts have either denied all applications or declined to render a judgment due to lack of jurisdiction. Some of the cases have been dismissed because of the plaintiff's lack of standing.

Proposed constitutional amendments

More than two dozen proposed constitutional amendments have been introduced in Congress to relax the restriction.

Two of the more well known were introduced by Representative Jonathan Bingham in 1974, to allow for Secretary of State Henry Kissinger to become eligible, and the Equal Opportunity to Govern Amendment by Senator Orrin Hatch in 2003, to allow eligibility for Governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger. The Bingham amendment would have also made clear the eligibility of those born abroad to U.S. parents, while the Hatch one would have allowed those who have been naturalized citizens for twenty years to be eligible.

See also

• Citizenship
• List of United States Presidents by date of birth (includes birth locations)
• Nationality
• Native-born citizen
• United States nationality law

Notes

1. Heard, Alexander and Nelson, Michael. Presidential Selection, page 123 (Duke University Press 1987) via Google Books.
2. How can Panamanian-born McCain be elected president? FactCheck.org, 2008-02-25, retrieved 2008-12-05.
3. Minor v Happersett (1874) case law at FindLaw.com
4. ^ U.S. v Wong Kim Ark (1898) case law at Justia.com Cite error: The named reference "Wong" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
5. Perkins v Elg (1939) case law at Justia.com
6. Meese, Edwin (2008). The Heritage Guide to the Constitution. Washington, D.C.: Regnery Publishing. p. 190. ISBN 159698001X. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) Solum, Lawrence B. (2008-09-05). "Originalism and the Natural Born Citizen Clause". Michigan Law Review. 107. Michigan: University of Illinois: 22. ISBN 159698001X.
7. United States. (1857), A Report of the Decision of the Supreme Court of the United States and the Opinions of the Judges Thereof, in, D. Appleton, pp. 576-582 {{citation}}: Text "contribution: Dred Scott, John F. A. Sanford, Benjamin Chew Howard" ignored (help).
8. Bates, Edward (1862), Opinion of Attorney General Bates on Citizenship, Government Printing Office, pp. 26-27.
9. Bates 1862, p. 12, Op. cit.
10. "Statutes at Large, 1st Congress, 2nd Session". A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774 - 1875. Library of Congress. 1790. Retrieved 2006-11-10.
11. Statutes At Large, Third Congress, Session II, p. 414.
12. Weiner, Myron. Migration and Refugees, page 252 (Berghahn Books 1998).
13. 8 U.S.C. § 1401ff.
14. The ABC’s of Immigration: Citizenship Rules for People Born Outside the United States, Suskind's Immigration Bulletin, Visalaw website, Suskind Susser Bland, Memphis, Tennesse
15. "Citizenship and Nationality". U.S. Department of State. U.S. Department of State. Retrieved 2006-11-09.
16. "7 FAM 1120 ACQUISITION OF U.S. NATIONALITY IN U.S. TERRITORIES AND POSSESSIONS" (PDF). U.S. Department of State Foreign Affairs Manual Volume 7- Consular Affairs. U.S. Department of State. 06-01-05. Retrieved 2008-11-28. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
17. "7 FAM 1116.1-4(c) "Acquisition and Retention of U.S. Citizenship and Nationality"" (PDF). U.S. Department of State. U.S. Department of State. Retrieved 2008-02-14.
18. "7 FAM 1130 "Acquisition of U.S. Citizenship by Birth Abroad to U.S. Citizen Parent"" (PDF). U.S. Department of State. U.S. Department of State. Retrieved 2008-04-25.
19. 7 FAM 1131.6-2d: "Eligibility for Presidency" (referring to 7 FAM 1131.6-2c).
20. Elk, 112 U.S. at 102.
21. "Vattel, The Law Of Nations, Preface to the 1999 digital edition, by John Roland"
22. "The Law Of Nations, 1758, de Vattel, Book 1, Chapter 19, section 212"
23. E.g. see Robinson v. Bowen, 567 F. Supp. 2d 1144 (N.D. Cal. 2008); Hollander v. McCain, 2008WL2853250 (D.N.H. 2008); Berg v. Obama, 08-04083 (E.D. Pa. 2008.
24. See 3 U.S.C. ch. 1.
25. Tokaji, Daniel. "The Justiciability of Eligibility: May Courts Decide Who Can Be President?" Michigan Law Review, First Impressions, Volume 107, page 31 (2008).
26. ^ "U.S. Congress moves to clarify the rules: Just how 'American' must a president be?". International Herald Tribune. International Herald Tribune. June 2, 2004. Retrieved 2006-11-09. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
27. Constitutional Topic: Citizenship, U.S. Constitution Online, retrieved 2008-11-25
28. McCain’s Canal Zone Birth Prompts Queries About Whether That Rules Him Out - New York Times
29. Spiro, Peter. “McCain’s Citizenship and Constitutional Method”, Michigan Law Review, Volume 107, page 208 (2008).
30. ^ “Who Can Be President?”, Voice of America News (2008-07-29).
31. Date of William Arthur's naturalization: August 31, 1843; cf. Certificate of Naturalization (Library of Congress)
32. Ireland was part of the United Kingdom at the time of Arthur's birth in 1829 and would not achieve independence as a nation for almost 100 years after that. Whether or not the UK would have, in 1829, considered Arthur a British subject based solely on paternal jus sanguinis is an open question.
33. D. Fitzgerald, "Nationality and Migration in Modern Mexico", in: Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 2005, Vol. 31, No. 1, pp. 171-191
34. Weicker, An Outcast, Runs Again, New York Times, April 13, 1988
35. The Green Papers: 2008 Election details about the Calero Presidential Campaign
36. Colón Hospital, Colón, Republic of Panama (cf. Senator McCains birth certificates).
37. Article II of the Convention Between the United States and the Republic of Panama states: "...the cities of Panama and Colon and the harbors adjacent to said cities, which are included within the boundaries of the zone above described, shall not be included within this grant."
38. A book written by the US Navy includes the same reference: Link to relevant page in the book via Google Books: http://books.google.com/books?id=pxooAAAAYAAJ&dq=panama%20canal%20colon&lr=&pg=PA192
39. This map clearly shows that Colon is not part of the Canal Zone. Colon Hospital can be seen on the map at the North end of the island. http://www.serve.com/CZBrats/Maps/CZaColon.jpg (Source: http://www.serve.com/~CZBrats/)
40. The Panama Canal Zone and its military facilities are not regarded as United States territory; cf. US Foreign Affairs Manual, 7 FAM §1116.1–4: "Despite widespread popular belief, U.S. military installations abroad and U.S. diplomatic facilities are not part of the United States within the meaning of the 14th Amendment. A child born on the premises of such a facility is not subject to U.S. jurisdiction and does not acquire U.S. citizenship by reason of birth."
41. Alexander, Paul (2002). Man of the People: The Life of John McCain. John Wiley & Sons. p. 12. ISBN 0-471-22829-X.
42. "Lawyers Conclude McCain Is "Natural Born", Associated Press via CBS News (2008-03-28). Retrieved 2008-05-23.
43. S.Res.511: A resolution recognizing that John Sidney McCain, III, is a natural born citizen; sponsors: Sen. Claire McCaskill, Sen. Barack Obama et al.; page S2951 notes Chairman Patrick Leahy as agreeing to Secretary Michael Chertoff's "assumption and understanding" that a citizen is a natural born citizen, if he or she was "born of American parents".
44. Cf. William Alsup, Robinson v. Bowen: Order denying preliminary injunction and dismissing action, September 16, 2008, p. 2; Alsup ruled that McCain was either a natural born citizen by birth under 8 U.S.C. §1401c or retroactively under 8 U.S.C. §1403(a). These laws however do not describe natural born citizenship, but only confer or declare statutory citizenship at birth. (See also: "Judge says McCain is a 'natural born citizen'". Associated Press. September 18, 2008. Retrieved November 16, 2008., and Constitutional Topic: Citizenship, U.S. Constitution Online, retrieved 2008-11-25.)
45. Gabriel J. Chin, "Why Senator John McCain Cannot Be President: Eleven Months and a Hundred Yards Short of Citizenship", in: Michigan Law Review First Impressions, Vol. 107, No. 1, 2008 (Arizona Legal Studies Discussion Paper No. 08-14)
46. 7 FAM §1131.6–2, Eligibility for Presidency.
47. SCOTUS 401 U.S. 815, 828 (1971)
48. Constitutional Topic: Citizenship, U.S. Constitution Online, retrieved 2009-06-07
49. "The Truth About Barack's Birth Certificate (archived cache)". Fight the Smears (Obama for America). (retrieved: 2009-07-11), quoting in excerpts from: "Does Barack Obama have Kenyan citizenship?". FactCheck.org (Annenberg Foundation). 2008-08-29.; see also: "Obama hits back at Internet slanders". Agence France-Press. 2008-06-12.
50. Leo C. Donofrio v. Nina Mitchell Wells (SCOTUS 08A407) and Cort Wrotnowski v. Susan Bysiewicz (SCOTUS 08A469); the Supreme Court in a conference decision denied their applications with no comment.
51. "The truth about Barack's birth certificate", Obama for America. Retrieved 2009-01-22); in a written oath to the State of Arizona Obama further stated that he is a natural born citizen (cf. Candidate Nomination Paper, State of Arizona, November 30, 2007).
52. ^ Kasindorf, Martin (2004-12-02). "Should the Constitution be amended for Arnold?". USA Today. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
53. ^ "President Kissinger?". Time. 1974-03-04. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)

External links

• John Yinger, Essay on the Presidential Eligibility clause and on the origins and interpretation of natural born citizen.
• Jill A. Pryor, "The Natural Born Citizen Clause and the Presidential Eligibility Clause; Resolving Two Hundred Years of Uncertainty", Yale Law Journal, Vol. 97, 1988, pp. 881–899.
• Sarah P. Herlihy, "Amending the Natural Born Citizen Requirement: Globalization as the Impetus and the Obstacle", Chicago-Kent Law Review, Vol. 81, 2006, pp. 275–300.

• Articles to be merged from February 2009
• United States Constitution
• United States law
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