N.Y. Attorney Sues Cruz on Eligibility: Issue Is ‘Where You First Saw the Light of Day’

RUSH TRANSCRIPT:

CAVUTO: “There is a separate issue for Ted Cruz if you consider efforts in New York and Illinois, two states where there's an effort to take him off the ballot questioning his citizenship. Of course, born in Canada but to a mother who was an American citizen. I think you're familiar with the back story here, and to hear the Cruz people tell it, no story. Try telling that to Roger Bernstein who's soon to have the senator taken off the new york ballot. under what grounds, Roger?”

BERNSTEIN: “Well, you know, it's interesting. We really should start with Marco Rubio, because the same legal doctrines apply to Marco Rubio that apply to Senator Cruz. And when Donald Trump took a shot at Marco Rubio, that was a very cheap shot. it was really inappropriate. The place where you're born governs your eligibility to be the United States president. Constitution when it was drafted in 1788 said that the president, unlike a senator or congressman, must be a so-called natural-born citizen of the United States. That is a very clear term. It was a clear term in 1788, it remains a clear term today. It focuses on where you were born. Who your participants are doesn't matter -- parents are doesn't matter. Mario's parents were born in Cuba. They were Cuban citizens when Marco Rubio was born here. That doesn't matter. What matters is where you first saw the soil, where you first saw the light of day. That's an ancient saying. and that's what –“

CAVUTO: “By that measure, what would you say about John McCain?”

BERNSTEIN: “Well, John McCain was born on a military base, and there's another ancient doctrine which basically say ifs your government sends you abroad to be a diplomat be or an ambassador or a member of the military, you don't lose that special citizenship status. It's an ancient exception. so John McCain sits in a comfortable spot. He was on a naval basis and in the canal zone we had occupied since 1904.”