Americans who were born and raised in the Panama Canal Zone, were taught in US Government schools from an early age that although we could do almost anything in life, we could not be president of the United States because we were not natural born citizens. To prove our US citizenship, we were required to obtain a certificate of citizenship, but it still didn't make us "natural born citizens" because we were not born in the USA. How then, is Article 2, section 1, clause 5, of the US Constitution interpreted in relation to John McCain's eligibility as a candidate for the presidency? This is not about his fitness or his citizenship. It is the matter of a constitutional requirement. Our constitution has suffered many blows under the present government to the detriment of all Americans. Will this be yet another?

Ha! Look at the anti-McCain zealots get spun up...

Dance monkies, dance!

Hmm, electric lady, I went to the same Canal Zone US Government schools and that certainly wasn't taught to me.

The New York Times should have done its homework --

McCain was indeed born in the Canal Zone, and Article II of the Constitution plainly states that "no person except a natural born Citizen...
shall be eligible to the Office of President." Some might define the term "natural-born citizen" as one who was born on United States soil. BUT the First Congress, on March 26, 1790, approved an act that declared,
"The children of citizens of the United States that may be born beyond sea, or outside the limits of the United States, shall be considered as natural-born citizens of the United States."
That would seem to include McCain, whose parents were both citizens and whose father was a Navy officer stationed at the U.S. naval base in Panama at the time of John's birth in 1936. This is such a non-issue for John McCain -- parent serving at the directive of the US Government, war hero, prisoner of war, distinguished US Senator.

My recollection is that this general issue was argued during the candidacy of George ("brainwashed") Romney, father of Mitt. I don't remember the precise details, but it involved being born to two American citizens temporarily abroad. (There may have been an element of the parents' being in service to the US government while abroad, which would presumably apply to McCain, born during his father's military service.)

My own hope is that this atavistic requirement will eventually be eliminated from the Constitution, preferably not in time for Arnold.

The Wise Bard (not a supporter of McCain).

Atavism (n) Atavistic(adj) - 1. resemblance to remote ancestors rather than to parents in plants or animals. 2. reversion to an earlier type. Oxford Dictionary p.57

Please explain how the term applies to the constitution or John McCain.

If you do think the requirement should change (I don't) but aren't willing to accept a candidate who may differ from your political views, wouldn't you have to agree that's blatantly hypocritical?

This is just so much desperation on the part of liberals and the liberal media. Anything to stir the pot. Of course John McCain is eligible to become president. I doubt seriously that he would run if he thought for a moment that his citizenship was in question. Kids born in Germany, when their parents are there as a result of military duty, are citizens of the US just as though they were born in Illinois. They, the libs, keep trying to smear this man. They best be careful as he is truly a hero in this country as was Kennedy.

In presenting this constitutional matter, the purpose is to bring attention to the need for a remedy that is legal. This may also mean that the remedy would not be in place in time for Senator John McCain to be elligible to hold the office of President.

Not everyone who is born an American citizen is a natural born Citizen. To be a natural born Citizen one must be born on U.S. soil. Senator John McCain was not born on U.S. soil. This disqualifies him from holding the office of the president. He can run, he just can't take the office.

Some claim that the Canal Zone was a United States territory, leading them to the conclusion that McCain was born on U.S. soil. The evidence disputes that assertion. When the treaty was signed that gave the U.S. control of the Canal Zone, the territory was retained by the Republic of Panama.

www.yale.edu

Convention for the Construction of a Ship Canal (Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty), November 18, 1903

Concluded November 18, 1903; ratification advised by the Senate February 23, 1904; ratified by President February 25,1904; ratifications exchanged February 26, 1904; proclaimed February 26, 1904. (U.S. Stats., vol. 33.)

The United States of America and the Republic of Panama being desirous to insure the construction of a ship canal across the Isthmus of Panama to connect the Atlantic and Pacific oecans, and the Congress of the United States of America having passed an act approved June 28, 1902, in furtherance of that object, by which the President of the United States is authorized to acquire within a reasonable time the control of the necessary territory of the Republic of Colombia, and the sovereignty of such territory being actually vested in the Republic of Panama, the high contracting parties have resolved for that purpose to conclude a convention and have accordingly appointed as their plenipotentiaries,

ARTICLE III

The Republic of Panama grants to the United States all the rights, power and authority within the zone mentioned and described in Article II of this agreement and within the limits of all auxiliary lands and waters mentioned and described in said Article II which the United States would possess and exercise if it were the sovereign of the territory within which said lands and waters are located to the entire exclusion of the exercise by the Republic of Panama of any such sovereign rights, power or authority.

ARTICLE V

The Republic of Panama grants to the United States in perpetuity a monopoly for the construction, maintenance and operation of any system of communication by means of canal or railroad across its territory between the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific ocean.

The treaty to establish the Canal Zone clearly does not establish a U.S. territory. For any who would pursue that further, consider the definition of territory.

Territory: In the United States, a portion of the country not included within the limits of any State, and not yet admitted as a State into the Union, but organized with a separate legislature, under a Territorial governor and other officers appointed by the President and Senate of the United States.

Territory: a part of the United States not included within any state but organized with a separate legislature

Territory: A subdivision of the United States that is not a state and is administered by an appointed or elected governor and elected legislature.

The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition

Any ruling that was made on the part of Barry Goldwater referring to his being born in a U.S. territory before it became a state is irrelevant to the case of John McCain being born in the Canal Zone which was never a U.S. territory.

A natural born Citizen is one who is born on U.S. soil. To be able to be Presdident of the United States, among other things, you must be a natural born Citizen. Since Senator John McCain is not a natural born Citizen (he was born outside the U.S.) it is by law that he was naturalized as a citizen at birth because of parentage. He was not a natural born Citizen based on the nature of where he was born.

Some may not agree with the Constitution of the United States, but it is what it is. It's the supreme law of the land.

U.S. Constitution.net

U.S. Constitution - Article II, Section 1

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.

If you don't like it, then change it through an amendment. But don't make it something that it isn't. That is a trick, not worthy of any American who stands by the constitution.

The Supreme Court needs to judge. That is why the Supreme Courts exists. Unfortunately, it is not likely to reach the court until one who is not a natural born Citizen gets elected to the presidency. This would be a crisis. The vice president would probably have to take over.

Here is a link to a much more detailed analysis.

If Senator Claire McCaskill's hastily scrawled "fix" actually goes through congress, it is a law that would need to be judged by the Supreme Court of the United States. Unless it is an amendment to the constitution, then McCaskill (and congress) would be undermining the supreme law of the land that is the U.S. Constitution.

In presenting this constitutional matter, the purpose is to bring attention to the need for a remedy that is legal. This may also mean that the remedy would not be in place in time for Senator John McCain to be elligible to hold the office of President.

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