Qualifications for President and the “Natural Born” Citizenship Eligibility Requirement
in the legal treatise from 1803 by the noted legal scholar St. George Tucker, editing Blackstone’s works and placing them in an American context: “That provision of the Constitution that requires that the President be a native-born citizen (unless he were a citizen of the United States when the Constitution was adopted) is a happy means of securing against foreign influence….”[1]
Although the term “native born” citizen or “native citizen” was seemingly used synonymously with “natural born” in reference to presidential eligibility by such noted constitutional scholars, it is most often not necessarily considered a specific term of art in a legal sense, does not appear in the Constitution, and generally means, in common usage with respect to U.S. citizenship, anyone born physically within the geographic boundaries of the United States, without reference to the citizenship of one’s parents. In one of the most extensive and widely respected multi-volume treatises on immigration and naturalization laws, Immigration Law and Procedure, the authors discuss the meaning of the term “native-born:”
[a] Native-Born Citizens
This is by far the largest group of U.S. citizens, and their status is acquired simply through birth in the United States, as described in Chapter 92 below. The Constitution does not refer to native-born citizens, although it does mention natural-born citizens. Nor does this term appear in the statute, which includes the native born among various categories who acquire citizenship at birth. However, the designation of the native born is an accurate and convenient one, generally used in colloquial and legal discussions.[2]
Under common, modern understanding and later Supreme Court explanations, “natural born” citizens would include “native born” U.S. citizens, that is, those born physically within the borders of the country, but might also include others whose citizenships were “obtained by birth” in other ways. The Supreme Court of the United States has on several occasions also used the terminology “native born” citizens or “native” citizens to distinguish such citizenship “at birth” from those who have obtained U.S. citizenship through “naturalization.” Even considering that the Court was using the terms in a narrow sense, and putting aside for the moment the issue of children born abroad of U.S. citizens, it is clear that the Supreme Court in these instances indicated that, at the least, all of those persons obtaining citizenship by birth within the geographic area of the United States (i.e., “native born” citizens) were eligible for the presidency (as being within the category of “natural born” citizens), as opposed to “naturalized” citizens. In Schneider v. Rusk, the Supreme Court appeared to use the term “native born” as synonymous and interchangeable with the term “natural born” in referencing those citizens eligible for the presidency, as opposed to “naturalized” citizens who are not eligible:
We start with the premise that the rights of citizenship of the native born and of the naturalized person are of the same dignity and are coextensive. The only difference drawn by the Constitution is that only the “natural born” citizen is eligible to be President. Art. II, §1.[3]
- ↑ St. George Tucker, William Blackstone, Blackstone’s Commentaries: with notes and reference to the Constitution and laws, of the Federal Government of the United States and of the Commonwealth of Virginia, Vol. I, App. at 323 (Philadelphia 1803).
- ↑ Gordon, Mailman, & Yale-Loehr, Immigration Law and Procedure, Vol. 7, §91.02[4][a] (rev. ed. 2010). Emphasis added. See also United States v. Wong Kim Ark, 169 U.S. at 674–675.
- ↑ 377 U.S. 163, 165 (1963).
