The Birther Issue Should Take Center Stage Tonight

at least in the main event of the two GOP debates.

Many but not all constitutional scholars say Ted Cruz is ineligible to run for president.

He is a citizen, but he was not born on American soil, and that is where the debate lies.

"Natural born" in the Constitution most likely refers to a person who is "native born," not somebody born in another country of American parents or was a foreign resident who got U.S. citizenship.

I count on Trump to bring the issue up tonight if the media doesn't.

Where Is Orly Taitz?

Not a peep apparently when this "birther" controversy may actually have legs.

Article I of the Constitution grants Congress the power to naturalize an alien — that is, Congress may remove an alien’s legal disabilities, such as not being allowed to vote. But Article II of the Constitution expressly adopts the legal status of the natural-born citizen and requires that a president possess that status. However we feel about allowing naturalized immigrants to reach for the stars, the Constitution must be amended before one of them can attain the office of president. Congress simply does not have the power to convert someone born outside the United States into a natural-born citizen.

Let me be clear: I am not a so-called birther. I am a legal historian. President Obama is without question eligible for the office he serves. The distinction between the president and Cruz is simple: The president was born within the United States, and the senator was born outside of it. That is a distinction with a difference.

It is pretty obvious what the framers intended. "Natural born" means born in this country.

Cruz needs to remain in the Senate and continue to piss off his colleagues in both parties.