9th Circuit Court Would Likely Keep Cruz Off Ballot

Those who think Sen. Ted Cruz can be elected to a job he isn't eligible for are ignoring the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.   If Republicans make the mistake of nominating Cruz for President of the United States,  Democrats in California and other states will challenge his eligibility.  There's at least a 90% probability the  9th Circuit Court in San Francisco would rule him ineligible because he is a naturalized citizen rather than a "natural born citizen" as required by the Constitution.

Then Republicans would have to choose whether to take a chance on the Supreme Court overturning the ruling or replace Cruz with someone else.   Either way the Republican campaign would be delayed and the Democrat would  be able to run unopposed for some time.  Republicans would have trouble getting a campaign started.

Article 2 of the United States Constitution establishes eligibility for the office of  President of the United States:  "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."    The 14th Amendment states: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States."

Cruz was not born in the United States so he cannot be a "natural born citizen" of the United States.  He is a  naturalized citizen because his mother took advantage of a naturalization "short cut"  that allows some U.S citizens to obtain citizenship for their children who are born outside the United States.   This naturalization process is not automatic and is not available to all children born to U.S. citizens outside the United States.    Children born in the United States are automatically citizens.   The parents of children outside the United States must request the child be given citizenship and demonstrate they are eligible to  obtain citizenship for their children

When Cruz was born a child could only qualify for citizenship under this provision in naturalization law  if at least one citizen parent had lived in the United States for at least 10 years, including five years after the age of 14, and the parents were married to each other.  Barack Obama had to provide evidence he was born in Hawaii to be a U.S. citizen. He could not have become a citizen if he had been born in Kenya  because his mother  had not lived in the United States the required five years after her 14th birthday.  Thousands of individuals fathered by American soldiers in Vietnam could not become U.S. citizens by this procedure because their fathers were  not married to their mothers.

A federal appeals court that would order states to accept same sex marriage would not hesitate to keep an ineligible presidential candidate off the ballot, particularly a candidate who would be likely to nominate Supreme Court justices who might vote to overturn the appeals court's rulings.