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A Texas attorney has filed a lawsuit questioning Ted Cruz’s eligibility to serve as president.
The federal case filed in Texas argues that the question must be presented to the Supreme Court for fair adjudication instead of left up to popular consensus.
“The U.S. Constitution is not a popularity document for fair weather only,” says the lawsuit filed by Newton Schwartz.
“However persuasive one finds each side in this debate, the final decision ultimately rests in the hands of five or more of nine Justices on the Supreme Court as mandated by the Constitution.”
Bloomberg News first reported on the suit, which challenges Cruz’s standing because he was born in Canada to an American mother.
The suit argues that the constitutional mandate that the president must be a “natural-born citizen” has never been settled in court and warned that the “mounting questionings crescendo” must be settled as soon as possible. It goes on to note the “persistent doubt” about President Obama’s eligibility.
In his closing, Schwartz warns that the failure to hear the case could amount to another Bush v. Gore situation, where a contested election ended up in the hands of the Supreme Court.
Donald Trump has repeatedly questioned Cruz’s eligibility for the White House in the run-up to the Iowa caucuses, on Feb. 1. The two sparred over the issue during Thursday night’s debate, with Trump warning that the threat of similar lawsuits could jeopardize the Texas senator's bid.
But Cruz shot back by arguing that by the most extreme “birther” theories, Trump himself wouldn’t be eligible because his mother was born in Scotland.
Critics have also filed a suit in Florida questioning Marco Rubio’s eligibility, arguing that he’s ineligible because his parents were both not citizens at his time of birth in Miami. Rubio’s lawyers rebutted that argument in a legal filing this week.
