Hey, cool. According to State Department, McCain not natural born Citizen

He was hatched. Why do think the Vietnamese called him "Songbird"?

The 14th amendment reads:
"All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside."

Note it does not say only persons born or naturalized in the USA; it says all persons born or naturalized. The amendment clearly establishes a minimum threshold for determining when citizenship and naturalization is automatically conferred upon an individual, however it never states that such rules cannot be extended beyond said minimum.

Now keeping that in mind, the document you reference goes on to discuss alternate methods of obtaining citizenship and naturalization. One of those methods is called "Jus Sanguinis" (AKA "derivative citizenship"). Jus Sanguinis is the legal jargon for the idea that the nationality of an individuals parents determines their citizenship. Therefore, barring some gross oversight in the language of the laws that grant this sort of citizenship in the USA, McCain would in all likelihood have been a naturalized citizen from birth. Which in turn would probably qualify him as a "natural born" citizen of the USA. (I only say most likely because the Supreme Court has never ruled on the meaning of the phrase "Natural Born").

Now I'm no legal student, and I don't have THAT much time on my hands, so its quite possible I am wrong, but if you're going to carry on about how McCain is not eligible to hold the office of commander in chief then you're going to have to do some research on the precise conditions under which Jus Sanguinis comes into effect, paying particular attention to the language relative to when the citizenship is granted to the eligible party.

wrote this on the 9th, before your post... Besides, its not a race, relax. And even if it was, you lost!

Unfortunately, the general population of America doesn't seem to care whether the federal government follows the Constitution or not.

This clause is considered particularly arcane by a large portion of the small percentage of Americans who are aware of it. There is even a push to repeal that clause so that Arnold Schwarzenegger can run for President.

The American people don't need arcane clauses from the Constitution enforced, taking away things they want or like. That will only make them angry, leading to cries from more talking heads that the Constitution is out of date and no longer reflects the desires of American society.

What we need to do is educate people about the Constitution and why some of these clauses were put in there. What was the reason the founders decided only "Natural Born Citizens" could be president? Use that answer for making your case about McCain. Arguing the constitution alone isn't effective anymore and would probably end up hurting the Constitution more than McCain.

"Natural citizens can be subdivided into two groups; those who acquired their citizenship by having been born in the United States, and those who acquired their citizenship by been born to parents that are citizens of the United States. Those individuals who are born on U.S. soil are said to have received their citizenship under the doctrine of "jus soli" or by the "right of the land". Natural citizens who are not born within the United States, but who are born from parents who were citizens of the United States at the time of their birth acquire their citizenship under the "jus sanguinis" doctrine or by the "right through blood"" From Vote Utah ( http://www.voteutah.org/learning/citizenship/become.html )

I guess the question for me would be, since IANAL, what is teh difference between jus soli and "jus sanguinis" in how it applies to being a "natural-born" or naturalized citizen

We cold also ponder the difference between who is a "citizen by birth" versus a "citizen at birth"

bah, forgot the rest of what I was going to write...

IMO John McCain would be a citizen by by jus saguinis and not jus soli so it would come down to the court ruling whether or not a natual born citizen is a citizen based on jus soli, jus sanguinis or both/either of the two.

The Constitution makes clear differentiation of "Citizen" and "Natural Citizen".

To qualify to be a Senator the Constitution reads, "been nine Years a Citizen of the United States".

To qualify to be the President the Constitution reads, "No person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution".

Notice distinct difference in the two?

So the definition of "natural born citizen" is the question, not the definition of citizen.

I opinionate but only from an outsiders view,- and you'd be right in saying to me 'keep your nose out' but it does sound a bit petty. One day you may get the chance to elect the best president ever (after Ron Pauls presidency, obviously) that was born under similar circumstances to McCane? The fact that he is who he is and may well be not worthy owing to his record, nonetheless he is of fine naval pedigree, could have contributed to the common good and has led the life of an american since birth to american parentage. That makes him worthy in that sense but not of course his presidential qualifications which goes without saying.

'I always think of all you canvassors and precinct leaders at the front line.
Good luck out there &Thank you. It's appreciated'.-fip -U.K

I don't think anyone is disputing McCain's citizenship. The question is whether or not he is a natural-born citizen. My personal belief is that the founders intent was that the person must be born within the borders of the United States, on U.S. soil.

The Panama Canal zone absolutely was not part of the United States. The U.S. had lease rights, not territorial rights.

I agree that McCain is definitely a citizen. But I am a bit unsure as to whether he is truly a natural-born citizen since he was not born on U.S. soil.

It just isn't. I personally was a U.S. citizen at birth, even though I was also born in a South American country. My mother is an American citizen and my dad is a Canadian citizen. I therefore was born with three natural citizenships which are all recognized to this day by all three countries.

This law would ONLY apply to him had he not had at least one American citizen parent.

Again, I wish it were true, but this has been addressed many other times before. There are MANY other reasons to go after McCain... hopefully some of them will come to light very soon.

I'm still trying to figure out how a reptile can become a citizen.