title:  Karma’s Latest Victim: Birthers Drag Ted Cruz To Court To Challenge His Eligibility For Presidency
text: They say karma s a bi*ch, and it continues to be for the Republicans. First, it was Rubio who was dragged off to court by the birthers who claim that he s not eligible to be president. Now, birthers have gone after Ted Cruz in Texas.A Texas attorney has filed suit in federal district court saying that Cruz can t be president because he s not a  natural born citizen  of the United States. Cruz was born in Canada. One of the few requirements to become president in the U.S. Constitution is to be a  natural born citizen  of the United States. Attorney Newton B. Schwartz, Sr.. in a 28 page complaint, is demanding that the U.S. Supreme Court address the issue since  natural born  has never been defined. Schwartz said:  This 229-year question has never been pled, presented to or finally decided by or resolved by the U.S. Supreme Court. Only the U.S. Supreme Court can finally decide, determine judicially and settle this issue now. Cruz, who ironically is an anti-immigration hawk, believes there is no issue. During Thursday s debate, Cruz went on the defensive against Trump, who s been at the forefront of questioning Cruz s eligibility. Cruz said:  There s nothing to this birther issue. Since September, the Constitution hasn t changed. But the poll numbers have. I recognize that Donald is dismayed that his poll numbers are falling in Iowa. But the facts and the law are really clear. Under longstanding U.S. law, the child of a U.S. citizen abroad is a natural born citizen. Not so simple says respected constitutional lawyer Mary Brigid McManamon at Widener University s Delaware Law School: The Constitution provides that  No person except a natural born Citizen . . . shall be eligible to the Office of President.  The concept of  natural born  comes from common law, and it is that law the Supreme Court has said we must turn to for the concept s definition. On this subject, common law is clear and unambiguous. The 18th-century English jurist William Blackstone, the preeminent authority on it, declared natural-born citizens are  such as are born within the dominions of the crown of England  while aliens are  such as are born out of it.  The key to this division is the assumption of allegiance to one s country of birth. The Americans who drafted the Constitution adopted this principle for the United States. James Madison, known as the  father of the Constitution,  stated,  It is an established maxim that birth is a criterion of allegiance. . . . [And] place is the most certain criterion; it is what applies in the United States.' Based on this interpretation, Cruz is disqualified. The irony in all this is that Cruz supports denying citizenship to children born in the United States, but whose parents are not US citizens.Is it karma that the Republicans are now reeling from the prospect of two of their leading candidates being ineligible for the presidency?  Throughout President Obama s seven years in the White House, many Republicans have floated the idea that he was not born in the United States. In fact, they propagated the idea so much that 53% of Republicans believe this nonsense today.The birther movement, which consists of many Republicans, has attacked and tried to discredit the president for years. Now, that same movement is after the very same institution, the Republican Party, that propagated it in the first place.Featured image via Nation of Change