April 30, 2008 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S3645 JOHN S. MCCAIN, III CITIZENSHIP George Romney, was also born outside the office of President of the United States. of the United States. He was widely un- Professor Tribe and I are in agreement that Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, I ask the circumstances of Senator McCain’s birth unanimous consent the Senate proceed derstood to be eligible to be President. Senator Barry Goldwater was born in a to American parents in the Panama Canal to the immediate consideration of Cal- Zone make him a natural born citizen within endar No. 715, S. Res 511. U.S territory that later became the the meaning of the Constitution. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The State of Arizona. Certainly those who Please do not hesitate to contact me if I clerk will report the resolution by voted for these two Republican can- can be of further assistance in this matter. title. didates believed that they were eligible Very truly yours, The legislative clerk read as follows: to assume the office of the President. THEODORE B. OLSON. A resolution (S. Res. 511) recognizing that Because he was born to American MARCH 19, 2008. John Sidney McCain, III, is a natural born citizens, there is no doubt in my mind We have analyzed whether Senator John citizen. that Senator MCCAIN is a ‘‘natural born McCain is eligible for the U.S. Presidency, in There being no objection, the Senate Citizen’’. I recently asked Secretary of light of the requirement under Article II of proceeded to consider the resolution. Homeland Security Michael Chertoff, a the U.S. Constitution that only ‘‘natural Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, today we former Federal judge, if he had any born Citizen[s] . shall be eligible to the are considering a bipartisan resolution doubts in his mind. He did not. Office of President.’’ U.S. Const. art. II, § 1, to express the common sense of all in Former Solicitor General Theodore cl. 5. We conclude that Senator McCain is a ‘‘natural born Citizen’’ by virtue of his birth this Chamber that Senator MCCAIN is a Olson and Harvard Law School Pro- fessor Laurence Tribe also analyzed the in 1936 to U.S. citizen parents who were serv- ‘‘natural born Citizen,’’ as the term is ing their country on a U.S. military base in used in the Constitution of the United issue and came to the same conclu- the Panama Canal Zone. The circumstances States. Last week the Judiciary Com- sion—that Senator MCCAIN is a natural of Senator McCain’s birth satisfy the origi- mittee voted unanimously to report born citizen eligible to serve as Presi- nal meaning and intent of the Natural Born this resolution to the Senate. I urge dent. Citizen Clause, as confirmed by subsequent Senators to come together to pass this Our bipartisan resolution would legal precedent and historical practice. bipartisan resolution without delay. make it clear that Senator MCCAIN, The Constitution does not define the mean- ing of ‘‘natural born Citizen.’’ The U.S. Su- Our Constitution contains three re- born in 1936 on an American Naval base to U.S. citizens, is a ‘‘natural born Cit- preme Court gives meaning to terms that are quirements for a person to be eligible not expressly defined in the Constitution by to be President—the person must have izen. We should act today on a bipar- looking to the context in which those terms reached the age of 35; must have re- tisan basis to erase any doubt that are used; to statutes enacted by the First sided in America for 14 years; and must Senator MCCAIN is eligible to run for Congress, Marsh v. Chambers, 463 U.S. 783, be a ‘‘natural born Citizen’’ of the President because of his citizenship 790–91 (1983); and to the common law at the United States. Certainly there is no status. time of the Founding. United States v. Wong Kim Ark, 169 U.S. 649, 655 (1898). These doubt that Senator MCCAIN is of suffi- I ask unanimous consent that the sources all confirm that the phrase ‘‘natural cient years on this Earth and in this legal analysis of Theodore Olson and Laurence Tribe be printed in the born’’ includes both birth abroad to parents country given that he has been serving who were citizens, and birth within a na- RECORD. in Washington for over 25 years. ‘‘How- tion’s territory and allegiance. Thus, regard- ever, some have raised the question There being no objection, the mate- less of the sovereign status of the Panama whether he is a ‘‘natural born Citizen’’ rial was ordered to be printed in the Canal Zone at the time of Senator McCain’s because he was born outside of the RECORD, as follows: birth, he is a ‘‘natural born’’ citizen because United States. GIBSON, DUNN & CRUTCHER LLP, he was born to parents who were U.S. citi- JOHN SIDNEY MCCAIN, III, was born to Washington, DC, April 8, 2008. zens. Re legal analysis of question whether Senator Congress has recognized in successive fed- American citizens on an American eral statutes since the Nation’s Founding Naval base in the Panama Canal Zone John McCain is a natural born citizen eligi- ble to hold the office of President. that children born abroad to U.S. citizens in 1936. His father was serving in the Hon. PATRICK J. LEAHY, are themselves U.S. citizens. 8 U.S.C. Navy at that time. Chairman, Committee on the Judiciary, U.S. § 1401(c); see also Act of May 24, 1934, Pub. L. It is possible that at the time of our Senate, Dirksen Senate Office Building, No. 73–250, § 1, 48 Stat. 797, 797. Indeed, the Nation’s founding, the Framers of our Washington, DC. statute that the First Congress enacted on Constitution could not imagine how DEAR CHAIRMAN LEAHY: Pursuant to a re- this subject not only established that such pronounced our commitments overseas quest received from the staff of your Com- children are U.S. citizens, but also expressly would become but it would make no mittee, I enclose for your and your Commit- referred to them as ‘‘natural born citizens.’’ tee’s consideration a copy of my and Pro- Act of Mar. 26, 1790, ch. 3, § 1, 1 Stat. 103, 104. sense to limit the careers of children fessor Laurence Tribe’s analysis of the ques- Senator McCain’s status as a ‘‘natural born to military families simply be- tion whether Senator John McCain is a nat- born’’ citizen by virtue of his birth to U.S. cause they were stationed overseas. ural-born citizen eligible, under Article II of citizen parents is consistent with British Similarly, it would not make sense to the Constitution, to hold the office of Presi- statutes in force when the Constitution was punish children born to foreign service dent of the United States. Professor Tribe drafted, which undoubtedly informed the families or Ambassadors stationed and I are in agreement that the cir- Framers’ understanding of the Natural Born overseas or children born overseas to cumstances of Senator McCain’s birth to Citizen Clause. Those statutes provided, for example, that children born abroad to par- American missionaries. They are all American parents in the Panama Canal Zone make him a natural-born citizen within the ents who were ‘‘natural-born Subjects’’ were American citizens at the time of their meaning of the Constitution. also ‘‘natural-born Subjects . to all In- birth. Please do not hesitate to contact me if I tents, Constructions and Purposes whatso- Numerous legal scholars have looked can be of further assistance in this matter. ever.’’ British Nationality Act, 1730, 4 Geol. into the purpose and intent of the Very truly yours, 2, c. 21. The Framers substituted the word ‘‘natural born Citizen’’ requirement. As THEODORE B. OLSON. ‘‘citizen’’ for ‘‘subject’’ to reflect the shift far as I am aware, no one has discov- from monarchy to democracy, but the Su- ered any reason to think that the GIBSON, DUNN & CRUTCHER LLP preme Court has recognized that the two Framers would have wanted to limit Washington, DC, April 8, 2008. terms are otherwise identical. See, e.g., Hen- Re legal analysis of question whether Senator nessy v. Richardson Drug Co., 189 U.S. 25, 34– the rights of children born to Ameri- John McCain is a natural born citizen eligi- 35 (1903). Thus, the First Congress’s statu- cans abroad or that such a limited view ble to hold the office of President. tory recognition that persons born abroad to would serve any noble purpose en- Hon. ARLEN SPECTER, U.S. citizens were ‘‘natural born’’ citizens shrined in our founding document. Ranking Member, Committee on the Judiciary, fully conformed to British tradition, where- Based on the understanding of the per- U.S. Senate, Dirksen Senate Office Build- by citizenship conferred by statute based on tinent sources of constitutional mean- ing, Washington, DC. the circumstances of one’s birth made one ing, it is widely believed that if some- DEAR SENATOR SPECTER: Pursuant to a re- natural born. quest received from Democratic Committee There is a second and independent basis for one is born to American citizens any- staff, I enclose for your consideration a copy concluding that Senator McCain is a ‘‘nat- where in the world they are natural of my and Professor Laurence Tribe’s anal- ural born’’ citizen within the meaning of the born citizens. ysis of the question whether Senator John Constitution. If the Panama Canal Zone was It is interesting to note that another McCain is a ‘‘natural born citizen’’ eligible, sovereign U.S.