We believe that Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, is eligible to be president. As he was born to a U.S. citizen, Cruz’s birthplace does not matter – and should not matter. It also should not matter for many other people born outside the United States, even to parents who are not citizens. It is past time to remove from the Constitution the outdated requirement that the president be a “natural-born citizen.”

Having just thrown off the British crown, the Founders sought to prevent backsliding in peacetime – both toward aristocratic forms of rule and toward domination from overseas.

Some of the vestiges of the country’s early years, such as a prohibition on U.S. officials accepting titles of nobility, still serve to preserve the nation’s independent republican tradition.

The “natural-born citizen” requirement, however, serves no purpose that could possibly justify its continued application. It creates two classes of citizens – those who are eligible to run for president and those who are not. It undermines the notion that allegiance to the Constitution, the democratic process and the rule of law define what it means to be an American, rather than the provenance of one’s blood. It is, moreover, anti- democratic, denying voters the opportunity to choose from some of the country’s best, brightest.

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