Natural Born Citizen

There is some confusion about the term and who qualifies to be considered a natural born citizen. Since the 14th Amendment was written, the definition of a natural born citizen has raised several opinions and questions.

Some have said that a natural born citizen is one that is born on American soil. Others have said that when born outside American soil that blood line is also a definition for natural born citizen. Then questions over military bases being American soil brought new confusion to the situation. Also the territories which the US occupies as well as the situation Nate and I are in right now.

Basically what it boils down to is that there has not been a case in court to define the meaning of natural born citizen. None of the above questions have been answered because we have not had an elected President born outside the US. With that being said, the vote can swing either way in her eligibility to be the President.


Wikipedia link below has tons of information with links to references and previous court cases without definition of 'natural born citizen'.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_born_citizen_clause_of_the_U.S._Constitution


The link below references what most constitutional scholars interpret the definition of 'natural born citizen' as:
        Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution specifies that, to be President or Vice President, a person must be a natural-born citizen of the United States, at least 35 years of age, and a resident of the United States for at least 14 years.1 Most constitutional scholars interpret this language as including citizens born outside the United States to parents who are U.S. citizens under the “natural born” requirement.
http://www.senate.gov/reference/resources/pdf/RL30527.pdf

This link below claims to fill in the gaps left by the 14th amendment by listing those who are eligible for citizenship on birth and somewhat defining 'natural born citizen'. Title 8 Section 1401 of the US Code states that anyone born outside the United States, both of whose parents are citizens of the U.S., as long as one parent has lived in the U.S.
http://www.usconstitution.net/consttop_citi.html

Lots of food for thought today :) I still believe that she will be considered 'natural born' because upon her birth she is considered a US citizen.... how is that not a natural born citizen?

Tchau,
Sara