Comments on: Yesterday’s Runner-Up: New York Times

By: Xrlq

Xrlq — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 21:54:43 +0000

D’oh. Fixed now, thanks.

By: tgirsch

tgirsch — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 21:28:23 +0000

FYI, Article II, Section I link is broken.

By: Xrlq

Xrlq — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 17:58:09 +0000

It was a snarky remarky about Ben-and-Jerry-Land, which I like to think of as a foreign country. The real reason for the controversy surrounding Chester Arthur was a rumor that he wasn’t really born in Vermont after all, but in Canada.

By: Steverino

Steverino — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 16:11:17 +0000

It could be that my sense of humor is a bit impaired, but I don’t understand the Chester Arthur/Vermont reference.

Vermont was admitted to the union in 1791 and Arthur was born in 1829. Why would there be any question of his citizenship?

If this was a joke on your part, please accept my apologies for not getting it, and I’ll go stand in the corner, blushing in utter humiliation.

By: Kevin Murphy

Kevin Murphy — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 01:37:12 +0000

I know there are native-born citizens, and there are naturalized citizens. Is there some third status that one must apply for? What form would I use and where would I send it?

By: htom

htom — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 19:56:42 +0000

I’ve got to ask. Were any of them (McCain, Obama, Clinton) born via caesarean section?

By: PatHMV

PatHMV — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 19:19:25 +0000

There is in fact a 3rd position, which is that "natural born" has a concrete constitutional meaning but is not synonymous with "born in." As I explain in my post at Stubborn Facts, the phrase must be defined in light of its meaning in the common law of England (as my coblogger Simon explained in his earlier post. If you go back to the common law (Blackstone's Commentary being the most convenient and comprehensive reference source), you find that "the children of the king’s embassadors born abroad were always held to be natural subjects". Sen. McCain's parents were, essentially, serving as "embassadors" of the United States and were stationed in the Panama Canal Zone at the orders of, and in service to, their country. Giving birth while doing so did not render their child a "non-natural born" citizen. And of course a 4th possible conclusion is that my co-blogger Simon's principle argument is correct, and McCain is also a natural born citizen because the Panama Canal Zone was part of sovereign U.S. territory at the time.