OPINION: Natural born leader

“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 have been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.” The Constitution of the United States, Section I of Article II.

The United States Constitution, and indeed the entire civil code, make no distinction between a natural born citizen and a naturalized citizen, save one. The requirement that the Commander in Chief of the American army shall not be given to nor devolve on, any but a natural born Citizen, ensuring their allegiance from birth.

There are two ways to become a U.S. citizen; natural born and naturalized. “Natural born” means that you are a citizen because you were born to parents who are citizens; you are a citizen by nature’s law. It is the citizenship of your parents that is important, not the specific location of your birth. Imagine that while your parents are on an extended vacation in a foreign land, your mother gives birth to you. It would be ridiculous to imagine that their “foreign” baby could not return home with them. Therefore you could be a natural born American citizen who was actually born in a foreign land to American citizen parents. 

The status of “natural born citizen” can ONLY be obtained by having parents (at least one) who are citizens. No law can change the circumstances of your birth. 

The other way to become a citizen is to be “naturalized” which means that someone has become a citizen by some law that provides some means for that person to attain citizenship. Our immigration and naturalization laws are intended to allow foreign persons to become U.S. citizens. This could include an application followed by a waiting period, followed by a test and concluding with an oath of allegiance. 

The 14th Amendment (a law) was passed to address the citizenship of the children of slaves. It grants citizenship to any person born on U.S. soil, regardless of the citizenship status of their parents, making them a naturalized U.S. citizen. If simply being born on the soil of a nation naturally made you a citizen of that nation, there would be no reason for Section 1 of the 14th Amendment. The 14th Amendment does not confer status as a Natural Born citizen; it simply naturalizes Persons who are born on U.S. soil.

The term “natural born Citizen” must be understood as it was at the time of the adoption of The Constitution. For this understanding we must turn to the books and writings of the day that would have provided reference to the Founding Fathers, authors of The Constitution. 

One such work is that of the Swiss Philosopher Emmerich de Vattel: “Le droit des gens ou, Principes de la loi naturelle,” “The Law of Nations or the Principles of Natural Law” published in French in 1758 and in English in 1760, and again in 1793.

In “The Law of Nations,” Vattel writes:

§ 212. Citizens and natives. The citizens are the members of the civil society; bound to this society by certain duties, and subject to its authority, they equally participate in its advantages. The natives, or natural-born citizens, are those born in the country, of parents who are citizens.

Nearly a century later in the SCOTUS case Minor v. Happersett, 88 U.S. 21 Wall. 162 162 (1874) the Chief Justice writes in the opinion of the Court:

“The Constitution does not in words say who shall be natural-born citizens. Resort must be had elsewhere to ascertain that. At common law, with the nomenclature of which the framers of the Constitution were familiar, it was never doubted that all children born in a country of parents who were its citizens became themselves, upon their birth, citizens also. These were natives or natural-born citizens, as distinguished from aliens or foreigners.”

The parents of Kamala Harris, Donald J. Harris and Shyamala Gopalan, came to the United States as foreign exchange students to study at the University of California, Berkeley. They met in 1962 while attending a study group for Black students. A year later, they were married. Kamala was born in 1964. They divorced in 1972.

At the time of Kamala’s birth, both parents were foreign nationals. Her father was Jamaican and her mother was Indian. In their applications to be foreign exchange students, each parent had signed a sworn statement pledging to return to their home country at the end of their student visas. 

Kamala’s parents were not American citizens, had not officially expressed and intent to become American citizen and had signed sworn statements expressing their intent to return to their home countries. 

Kamala Harris is a United States citizen by virtue of a law, the 14th Amendment, making her a Naturalized U.S. Citizen. Kamala Harris is not a Natural Born Citizen. Kamala Harris does not meet the requirements to be president. 

It’s just common sense.

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Brent Regan is chairman of the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee.