Excess of Democracy

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Scholarship highlight: Katyal & Clement, On the Meaning of Natural Born Citizen

Former Solicitors General Neal Katyal and Paul Clement have this commentary in the Harvard Law Review Forum, On the Meaning of "Natural Born Citizen." It opens:

We have both had the privilege of heading the Office of the Solicitor General during different administrations. We may have different ideas about the ideal candidate in the next presidential election, but we agree on one important principle: voters should be able to choose from all constitutionally eligible candidates, free from spurious arguments that a U.S. citizen at birth is somehow not constitutionally eligible to serve as President simply because he was delivered at a hospital abroad.

The article nicely summarizes the reasons in defense of this interpretation (specifically and especially the Ted Cruz question). It also nicely follows my recent piece examining the antecedent question, whether States have any independent power to evaluate qualifications for federal office. (Download on SSRN for the details!)