Florida Congressman Alan Grayson doesn’t have the reputation of a uniter. He is known for his caustic statements intended to gain him air time and upset those who disagree with him. He has no time for those who dissent from his opinion.
And now his latest target is Ted Cruz. Grayson said on “The Alan Colmes Show” that he will challenge Cruz’s U.S. Citizenship if he is the nominee.
COLMES: That’s very interesting, are they all bigots?
GRAYSON: Show me one who represents the exception here. In a sense I guess Cruz is not technically that way, because technically he’s not even an American.
COLMES: Well, his mother was born here, so I guess like Obama, though it’s interesting to me the people who had a problem with Obama, though it’s interesting to me that the people who had a problem with Obama’s birth certificate don’t have a problem with Ted Cruz who literally was born in another country and renounced his Canadian citizenry.
GRAYSON: I don’t know, the Constitution says natural born Americans, so now we’re counting Canadians as natural born Americans? How does that work? I’m waiting for the moment that he gets the nomination and then I will file that beautiful lawsuit saying that he’s unqualified for the job because he’s ineligible.
COLMES: So you’re saying should he get the nomination, Alan Grayson will file a lawsuit against his candidacy.
GRAYSON: Absolutely! Call me crazy but I think the President of America should be an American.
Democrats have been up in arms for years, calling anyone who doubted Obama’s citizenship status “racist.”
Ted Cruz is a natural born American citizen. He was born in Canada, but to an American mother, and therefore eligible to be President. Cruz addressed this issue at CPAC stating, “I was born in Calgary. My mother was an American citizen by birth. Under federal law, that made me an American citizen by birth. The Constitution requires that you be a natural-born citizen.”
What do you think would happen if Grayson challenged Ted Cruz’s citizenship? Please let us know.
H/T: Red State
I often think back to our Founding Fathers and wonder if they, at any point,…
I'm a birthday person; I spend my birthday doing what I want, watching what I…
Senator Elizabeth Warren sometimes gets excited. And one of the things she gets most excited…
First Son Hunter Biden has seemingly finally admitted his infamous laptop really is his, and…
MAGA Representative Lauren Boebert believes Americans owning less than 50% of the world's guns is…
By John Murawski for RealClearInvestigations Until a few years ago, the idea of paying financial…
View Comments
Article II, Section I, Clause V of the Constitution begins "“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;"
Since Cruz wasn't alive at the time of the adoption of the Constitution, it wouldn't be a question of whether he is a citizen - it would be a question of whether he is a natural born citizen.
The US Supreme Court cited the source of the term natural born citizen, The Law of Nations (specifically, Book 1, Chapter 19, Section 212), in Minor v Happersett: "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."
It requires not only birth in the country but "of parents who were its citizens." Parents and citizens are plural, meaning both parents. Looking at The Law of Nations, it goes further in stating "the citizenship of the child follows that of the father."
If Grayson is going to sue Cruz, he'll need to include Obama in the suit since his father was not a US citizen.