The Illinois Board of Elections Got It Wrong: Ted Cruz Is Not a Natural Born Citizen

Mario Apuzzo, Esq. - February 5, 2016

The Illinois Board of Elections recently found that Presidential contender, Senator Ted Cruz, is an Article II “natural born citizen.”   http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ted-cruz-natural-born-illinois_us_56b10542e4b0a1b96203f393 .  Lawrence Joyce and William Graham objected to Cruz being placed on the presidential primary ballot in Illinois, contending that he is not an Article II natural born citizen.  The Board rejected the challenge and found that Cruz “is a natural born citizen by virtue of being born in Canada to his mother who was a U.S. citizen at the time of his birth." The Board so found because it said he "did not have to take any steps or go through a naturalization process at some point after birth."  The Board also had the audacity to cavalierly state:  “Further discussion on this issue is unnecessary." The Board erred.  The Board’s ruling is an expression of Congressional Research Service attorney Jack Maskell’s baseless thesis of his definition of a natural born citizen.  Not only is Maskell’s definition a fabricated and revisionist definition of a natural born citizen, it also is nonsensical.   See Mario Apuzzo, The Fallacies of Congressional Legislative Attorney Jack Maskell’s Definition of a “Natural Born Citizen,” http://puzo1.blogspot.com/2013/06/the-fallacies-of-congressional.html (June 2, 2013) (demonstrates how Maskell’s thesis is erroneous); Mario Apuzzo, The Constitution, the Rule of Law, and the “Natural Born Citizen” Clause:  A Response to Artsy Fartsy Squeeky Fromm Girl Reporter,http://puzo1.blogspot.com/2013/07/the-constitution-rule-of-law-and.html  (July 19, 2013) (same). 

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