Ted Cruz's Canadian Birth Wouldn't Hinder Run for Presidency

The freshman Texas Republican senator who has conservatives talking presidency hasn't made his intentions known, but if Ted Cruz does decide to seek the Oval Office he likely is eligible despite being born in Canada.

Cruz was born in Canada to a Cuban father and an American mother. That makes him a "natural born citizen" and eligible to hold the highest office in the land, Fox News reports.

A 14-page report made by the Congressional Research Office when President Barack Obama's birthplace was called into question states that there are only three requirements in the U.S. Constitution for holding the office of president: minimum age of 35, residency in the United States for 14 years and he or she must be a "natural born citizen."

According to the report, "the weight of scholarly legal and historical opinion appears to support the notion that 'natural born citizen' means one who is entitled under the Constitution or laws of the United States to U.S. citizenship 'at birth' or 'by birth,' including . . .  those born abroad of one citizen parent who has met U.S. residency requirements."

That said, the office’s legislative attorney Jack Maskell wrote in 2011, "there is no Supreme Court case which has ruled specifically on the presidential eligibility requirements, although several cases have addressed the term 'natural born' citizen. And this clause has been the subject of several legal and historical treatises over the years, as well as more recent litigation."