Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Federal Judiciary Blogs -> Supreme Dicta

Federal Judiciary

: Supreme Dicta

McCain and "natural-born citizen"

The New York Times has written about a topic that has been on my mind since Sen. John McCain ran for president the first time around - what does the Constitution mean when it states only a "natural-born citizen" is eligible to be president? Sen. McCain was born on a U.S. military base in the Panama Canal Zone in 1936.

This issue has sprung up periodically throughout U.S. history. George Romney, Mitt's father, was born in Mexico; Lowell Weicker was born in Paris. And there apparently have always been rumors that Chester A. Arthur, who lists his birthplace as Vermont, was actually born in Canada! That might be the most remarkable thing about Chester A. Arthur...

Most legal scholars believe that McCain would not have any problems meeting eligibility, despite the fact there is absolutely NO precedent on the issue. And the Framers don't offer us much guidance on the issue either. According to the Times, the "origin may be traced to a letter from John Jay to George Washington, with Jay suggesting that to prevent foreigners from becoming commander in chief, the Constitution needed to 'declare expressly' that only a natural-born citizen could be president." So I suppose the phrase is just meant to contrast with naturalized citizen.

But if you wanted get ridiculous in your interpretation of this phrase (which is this blog's specialty), I would be worried that any person born of a cesarean section would be ineligible...

Full post as published by Supreme Dicta on February 29, 2008 (boomark / email).