Thread by @JMHendersonSr

@KamalaHarris has none of the necessary tools to preside over this nation. But #birtherism #challenges to her qualifications to be elected are #silly.

In the years preceding the 2016 election, because @tedcruz and I share many of the same views, I spent considerable time and energy evaluating the question of whether he could be, consistent with the Constitution, qualified to serve as President.

If you're wondering why that would even be in doubt, remember two things: I am a hide-bound constitutionalist; and, the Constitution provides the brief but precise requirements to be qualified to be president.

Like @ThomasJefferson, I believe the greatest dangers to our liberties are presented by judges that treat the Constitution as a "thing of wax" to be molded by their hands. So I am for the reading of, construction of, and application of, the Constitution as it was written.

And that means that, when the question arises, "Is X qualified to be elected president?" my rule is to turn to the Constitution, read its words, and enforce its conclusions.

For @TedCruz, who I love having in the #Senate and would love to see on the #SCOTUS, that ultimately led me to conclude that he was constitutionally #ineligible to be elected president.

Why?

There are only three constitutional qualifications for the presidency: birthplace, age, and duration of domestic residency in the #USA:

@TedCruz is #oldenough to be president and he has #residedlongenough in the USA to be president.

But he wasn't and never will be a "natural born citizen." He was born while his parents resided in #Canada.

And, in fact, as he prepared to run for the #GOP nomination, he prepared and filed a document with the Canadian government that renounced his birthright #canadian #citizenship.

Yes. That's right.

By operation of #Canadianlaw, @TedCruz was a #CanadianCitizen by birth there.

Of course, by operation of law, @tedcruz was also a citizen of the #USA.

But, and this is the kicker, it was by operation of a congressionally enacted #naturalization act that #Ted was accorded #USCitizenship at birth.

Thousands of children were born in Ted's home Canadian province the same year as he. Ted, however, was born to a mother that was an American citizen.

By operation of #American #Naturalization #Law, he acquired citizenship in the #USA at birth. In the absence of that federal statute, he was not a #USCitizen.

And, consequently, because he is a #naturalized #citizen, he is not a #naturalborn citizen.

But @KamalaHarris is.

@KamalaHarris was born in the US. She was born to two foreign nationals who were present in the US, not as diplomats of another nation, not as soldiers of another nation. They were domesticated, residing here, and subject to our laws.

A subcategory of #birtherists dispute that a child born in the #USA is a "natural born citizen" of the #USA if born to foreign nationals in the #USA.

I understand their argument, but it proves too much and is unsupported by law or our history of the law.

You see, our #naturalization and #citizenship laws descend from #English #CommonLaw, except as modified by the Constitution and laws enacted by Congress.

This fact means that virtually every child born in the #USA is a natural born citizen of this nation with the exception of a remarkably tiny collection of individuals born here while their parents are present in the USA on diplomatic or military service of a foreign nation.

True enough that it required the ratification of the #FourteenthAmendment to completely effectuate that endowment of natural born citizenship on newly freed slaves and their children.

But, in essence, if you can be prosecuted by a State or federal government for a crime, you are "subject to the jurisdiction" of the USA. And, consequently, if you were born here, that means you are a natural born citizen of the USA.

So, please, focus on what actually makes the Toe, @KamalaHarris, a horrible prospect for the presidency: her race-baiting, her prosecutorial inclination to punish minorities, her preference for caring for #illegalaliens over #veterans, the #homeless, the #elderly.

But if you come at me with a claim that the Toe is constitutionally ineligible to be elected president, because of the birthplaces of her parents, I will Twitter slap that nonsense to the next county.

@threadreaderapp unroll