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Ted Cruz Faces Birther Lawsuits As Voters Question His Eligibility To Be President

By Coburn Palmer
Published on: 05:28 PST, Feb 19, 2016

A Ted Cruz birther lawsuit, questioning the Texas senator’s right to run for president of the United States, will be heard in Chicago court today as one voter challenges his “natural born citizen” status. It’s just one of many.

Donald Trump supporter and Illinois lawyer Lawrence Joyce argues Cruz’s Canadian birth to an American mother makes him ineligible to become president.

Lawrence says he’s worried Cruz will win the Republican presidential nomination and then have his eligibility challenged by Democrats in court, which would be a disaster for the party, he told the National Post.

“That he should now drag the entire Republican Party through a potential nightmare simply because of his negligence, his own private, wishful thinking, and his lack of due diligence is inexcusable, and such conduct hardly signifies the type of person whom the American people need in a President of the United States.”

His first objection to Cruz’s eligibility made to the state’s Board of Elections was dismissed earlier this month.

The Cruz birther argument was first floated by Donald Trump, who argued the constitution requires an American president to be born on U.S. soil, which the Texas senator was not. Cruz disagrees, however, saying his birth to an American mother automatically makes him a “natural born citizen.”

Cruz was born in Calgary, Canada.

The courts have yet to define what constitutes a “natural born citizen,” making this first Illinois test case that much more important.

Cruz also faces court challenges in New York, where a small group of voters is suing the elections board to remove the Texas senator’s name from the ballot. Another lawsuit in Houston asks that court to determine whether Cruz is eligible to run for president.

A lawsuit in federal court has also been filed challenging Cruz’s eligibility to be president. In that case, a group of Trump supporters along with some undecided voters are asking an Alabama judge to throw out the Texas senator’s campaign, attorney Thomas Drake told the Hill.

“Mr. Cruz was born in Canada, and obviously Canada is not a territory or protectorate of the United States, it’s not dominion of the United States. As such, when he was born, at the moment of his birth, location determined his status, and his status was that of a natural-born Canadian citizen. You cannot be a natural-born or native-born citizen of two countries.”

Ted Cruz has long argued his birth to an American mother makes him a “natural born citizen” of the United States no matter where he was born.

“I never breathed a breath of air on this planet when I was not a U.S. citizen.”

There are numerous examples of presidential candidates who have questionable birth records, including 2008 Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain, who was born on an American military base in Panama.

Former Michigan Gov. George Romney, the father of unsuccessful presidential nominee Mitt Romney, who campaigned for president in 1968, was born to American parents in Mexico.

As Trump’s Ted Cruz birther argument faces its first challenge in court, the Republican presidential candidates prepare for the South Carolina primary on Saturday. A new national poll released Wednesday shows Cruz leading Trump for the first time with 28 percent compared to The Donald’s 26 percent.

That 2 percent lead, however, is within the poll’s margin for error, so it’s statically a dead heat going into Saturday’s primary.

What do you think? Does Donald Trump’s Ted Cruz birther argument hold water?

[Photo by Chris Carlson/AP]

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