JUST FOR YOUR INFO: “McCain raises ‘natural-born citizen’ issue”
Published: Feb. 28, 2008 at 5:06 PM
WASHINGTON, Feb. 28 (UPI) — The birthplace of U.S. presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., brings up an age-old question about what constitutes a “natural-born citizen.”
McCain was born in the Panama Canal Zone. If he wins the general election, he would be the first person to take the presidential oath with an official birthplace beyond the 50 states, The New York Times reported Thursday.
“There are powerful arguments that Sen. McCain or anyone else in this position is constitutionally qualified, but there is certainly no precedent,” said Sarah Duggin, a Catholic University law professor.
When “natural-born citizen” was penned in 1787, little direction was offered about whether a candidate had to be born on American soil. In McCain’s case, he was born on a U.S. military installation where his parents were stationed at the time.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and an ally of McCain, said it would be inconceivable that a son of a military member born on a military post could not run for president.
“He was posted there on orders from the United States government,” Graham said. “If that becomes a problem, we need to tell every military family that your kid can’t be president if they take an overseas assignment.”
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This is a very interesting article. If anything comes of this and a huge debate about how McCain can not be president is brought up, I would be very disappointed. Since he was a citizen and his parents happened to be moved on U.S. military orders to be not on U.S. soil he should be fine. It still counts as being a natural born citizen right? And did the Founding Fathers ever state specifically that the president had to be born on U.S. soil? No one really thinks that when they are going to have a baby, they better be back in the U.S just in case their kid is going to run for president. That just does not happen. Natural-born citizen refers to being born and a citizen. As if your parents are residents and citizens of America. If two parents are on vacation in Rome and have their baby early, does that mean their kid never has a chance of being president? If so, this rule certainly needs to be changed to something that he has to be born with citizenship no matter where he/she is. This should not be a factor in McCain’s running. If it was I would be very disappointed with the democratic party because they have to be a part in it somehow.
This article really reached out to me; mostly because it actually could affect me and my family on a personal level. My Father and his dad have both been in the military. My grandfather was stationed in Germany when my dad was born. Strangely enough, my dad was also stationed in Germany when my two older brothers were born. My mother was born in Alaska before it was officially a state. I was the only person in my immediate family born in one of the actual 50 states (Texas). Over time, my family has had an ongoing argument about who could possibly be President if they ever wanted to. My oldest brother was born in a German Hospital outside of the Military base, so I’m guessing he probably would not qualify as a “natural-born citizen.” My other brother and my dad, however, were both born on the actual base, and therefore could potentially be “naturally-born” in the same sense as John McCain. My mother’s case is even stranger since she was born on what is now a state, but back then was only a territory. I think territories count though, but I’m not sure. If McCain is elected, my family will finally be able to settle the argument over who could or could not be President if they wanted to. Personally I’m a little excited to find out. My connection for this article is straight from the Constitution, since in the Constitution it is stated that, “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; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty-five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.”
Another strange fact about John McCain and my family?
His Full name is:
John Sidney McCain III
My name is:
John Maccini.
If someone rearranged the letters in his last name and used one of the I’s from his III it could read:
John Maccini………… creepy.
Born on a United States military base, whether in the Panama Canal Zone, or Canada, any child not be rejected the right of US citizenship. I don’t think that it is anything to get fussed about; there should be no question to McCain’s citizenship. Luckily, McCain’s father was already a US citizen. He was just told, by the US GOVERNMENT, that he was to be stationed outside of the United States. This particular “issue” reminds me a little bit about the movie we watched in class on Ron Paul and him making the statement about not agreeing with birthright citizenship. A child has no choice over where he/she is born. Whether the child is supposed to be a United States citizen (ie. John McCain), or their parents were illegal immigrants and they were born in the United States and not technically supposed to have US citizenship: a child needs to have a citizenship of some sort. And it would make sense if their citizenship was the same as their parent’s. The child can change it later down the road, but needs to belong somewhere. And in John McCain’s case, his citizenship belongs with the United States making him perfectly eligible for the presidency.
We have all learned about the constitutional requirements for the Senate, the House of Representatives, and the President. We all know that the president must be 35 years old and a natural born citizen of the United States. I think the question of being born on a U.S. military base has come up in class and we said that it hadn’t really come into question before but it would be acceptable. I really don’t think that this will be a big deal in the election. If it really was a problem at all I’m sure something would have been said before. Previous to this article I had no idea that John McCain was born outside of the United States on a military base. I think it would be ridiculous to deny John McCain the chance to become president because his parents were involved in the military and stationed out side of the U.S. at the time he was born. – Matt Powles
I don’t know what I think about this article I think that it has a valid point that he is not a “natural born citizen”(I take this to mean that he was born on U.S. soil). At the same time, his parents were on a United States Military base that just happens to be in Panama. So are we going to penalize tour military personal and their children for not being born in the United States. I think that would be B.S. In Marbury VS Madison a decision was rendered that set a precedent that created judicial review. John Marshall inferred that the constitution gave the supreme court the ability to declare weather a law is constitutional of not. The constitution says no where that the president must be born on US soil so it would be inferred that a natural born citizen could be born anywhere if both parents are natural born citizens, even if it is on a military base in Panama or on vacation to Mexico. I think that if this has anything to do with weather John McCain gets the republican nomination, a civil law suit will be filed and will probably make it’s way to the Supreme Court.
To answer Jerek’s question on if McCain counts on being born on U.S soil since his parents were stationed on a base over seas. Well the answer is that he counts as being born on U.S soil. As we have learned in Mr. Kautzman’s class, foreign U.S. military bases count as United States property and there for allows for McCain to run for President. Since he meets the obligations of being a natural born U.S citizen. As for the article I don’t even know why this would even be a big issue. For he is a U.S. citizen and there isn’t any question to that. And since the constitution does not state that you have to be a natural born citizen, the criteria for eligibility has been passed on through generation. Which states you have to be a natural born citizen or born on U.S. soil over seas. Adding to the foundation that McCain meets all the requirements and is firm candidate for president and that there is not a possible reason exposed right now, that would restrict him from perusing the presidency.
Unless the Panama Canal becomes a country I don’t think that there will be a issue. The original reason for the founding fathers putting in that a president had to be natural born citizen was a fear that a not natural born president would have too close of ties or alliances with his mother country. I believe that any time a person is born in a united states military base to citizens of the United States delivered by a United States doctor in the zone of a canal that at one time represented the pinnacle of United States achievement they happen to be a natural born citizen of the United States, but that’s just me. Also due to the history of john McCain, a war veteran and a veteran in politics, I think that if there was some chance of betrayal to the people of the United States we would have seen signs by now. The issue does however bring up a very interesting point. In the original meaning of the words of our founding fathers is a person born on a military base a natural born citizen. I believe that the founding fathers might have missed a point of clarification but if they could be asked today they would say that the children of our military born on military bases are natural born citizens.