McCain and "natural born"

[libertango]

From jaylake comes this article in the New York Times re the issue of whether McCain is a "natural born citizen" as the Constitution requires, given that he was born in the Canal Zone in Panama. Key graf for me:

"The analysis, by Prof. Gabriel J. Chin, focused on a 1937 law that has been largely overlooked in the debate over Mr. McCain’s eligibility to be president. The law conferred citizenship on children of American parents born in the Canal Zone after 1904, and it made John McCain a citizen just before his first birthday. But the law came too late, Professor Chin argued, to make Mr. McCain a natural-born citizen."

See, if he'd been born at an embassy or a consulate -- a place with extraterritoriality, to use the term of art -- I'd have no problem. But despite some diplomats' assertion that we stole the Canal Zone fair and square, this has bugged me. And now that a specific law has been found that conferred citizenship on people born in McCain's circumstances after the fact... I don't see how you can avoid the conclusion that until that law passed, he wasn't a citizen. (Nor were a number of other people.) Bulk naturalization is naturalization just the same.

The article goes on:

"“It’s preposterous that a technicality like this can make a difference in an advanced democracy,” Professor Chin said. “But this is the constitutional text that we have.”"

Indeed. Jay thinks this is a bogus point, but I think of it as fairness. Alexander Hamilton, notably, was disqualified from being president because of it, as he was born in Barbados. We've had too many exemptions from the Constitution for the sake of expediency in recent years.

I'll agree with Jay, though, "As with so many other issues-of-character and personal past by which Democrats are hung out to dry, it’s OK if you’re a Republican."

I don't see why we don't just start calling them "anti-Constitutionalists", like the old anti-Federalists.

UPDATED TO ADD: I made multiple Gross Factual Errors regarding Mr. Hamilton. I'll let them stand, as a reminder to keep myself humble.

Comments

[holyoutlaw.livejournal.com]

This will play out like state's rights play out. As long as "state's rights" involves not giving states federal money, then neo-cons are all about state's rights. But if it involves medical marijuana, finishing disputed vote counts, or assisted suicide, then state's rights go out the window.

[kate-schaefer.livejournal.com]

Hamilton was qualified to be president because he was a citizen at the time of the adoption of the Constitution. He was never president because he died too soon, because he was intemperate, because he was involved in far too many scandals (including being technically illegitimate), but being born in Barbados shouldn't have affected his chances. You're usually really reliable on history; where did this fly in from? Or what am I missing?

[ckd]

Wouldn't it be ironic if the same Insular Cases that the Administration is using to say "but Guantanamo's not 'really' under our jurisdiction, so no Constitutional rights apply" were the precedents that blocked McCain?

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

Wait... wouldn't have been qualified because he was resident at the time of the adoption of the Constitution?

You say disqualified, and that to me implies it was a question, and so resolved against him.

TK

[shikzoid.livejournal.com]

I remember someone tried to claim Bush and Cheney couldn't win as a ticket since there's an extremely obscure law that both members of the ticket can't be from the same state. So Cheney is from Texas except when he has to be from Wyoming.

Or something like that.

[bibliofile.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Cheney had to go to court to say he was from Wyoming. He even bought a house there beforehand or something. Problem solved!