HUDSON, N.H. (AP) – Two lawyers who have represented presidents from both parties at the Supreme Court say they think Canadian-born Ted Cruz is legally eligible to run for president.
Former Bush administration Solicitor General Paul Clement and Neal Katyal, a former acting solicitor general in the Obama administration, say the Republican senator from Texas meets the constitutional standard to be a presidential contender. The bipartisan duo’s commentary in the Harvard Law Review comes as Cruz moves toward an expected White House run.
The lawyers say they disagree over who should be ideal candidate in 2016. But they say arguments about Cruz’s citizenship are a “spurious” distraction.
Cruz was born in a Canadian hospital to an American mother. The lawyers say that meets the requirement for presidents to be a “natural born citizen.”