Washington – A legal adviser to President Trump’s reelection campaign refutes a false theory by a conservative professor that Kamala Harris may not be eligible for the vice presidency because of questions about her parents’ immigration status at the time she was born.
Harris was born in Oakland, California, on October 20, 1964. Constitutional scholars and Supreme Court precedents have long held that anyone born in the United States is a U.S. citizen, making them eligible for the presidency.
Jenna Ellis, the Trump campaign adviser, re-posted a tweet Thursday, Tom Fitton, president of the conservative group Judicial Watch, asked whether Harris was “unfit to be vice president under the ‘Citizenship Clause’ of the US Constitution” and shared an opinion. ed by John Eastman, a law professor at Chapman University, published in Newsweek.
Ellis told CBS News that whether Harris, a senator in California, could be vice president is an “open question, and one that I think Harris needs to answer so the American people are sure she’s eligible.”
But Erwin Chemerinsky, the dean of Berkeley Law School and an expert on constitutional law, told CBS News in an email that the issue is “a really stupid argument.”
“Under paragraph 1 of the 14th Amendment, anyone born in the United States is a citizen of the United States. The Supreme Court has held this position since the 1890s. Kamala Harris was born in the United States. States, “he said. The relevant part of the 14th Amendment reads: “All persons born as naturalized in the United States, and subject to its jurisdiction, are citizens of the United States and of the State in which they reside.”
“Some conservatives, like John Eastman, think that is wrong and being born in the country is not enough,” Chemerinsky added. “[They’re] clearly wrong under the language of the 14th Amendment and under Supreme Court precedent. “
The controversial op-ed written by Eastman was published after Joe Biden announced Harris as his running mate on Tuesday. Eastman ran in 2010 in the Republican primary for Attorney General of California and lost to Steve Cooley. In the general election, Cooley was defeated by Harris, a Democrat.
Mr. Trump won Thursday in the false claim in his press conference.
“I heard today that she does not meet the requirements,” said Mr. Trump, adding that he was not sure what the matter was.
Claims about Harris’ qualification also appeared when she launched her presidential bid in early 2019, but were dismissed.
In his op-ed, Eastman said there are “some” who question whether Harris can be vice president because none of her parents were naturalized U.S. citizens when she was born.
“This makes, according to these commentators, her not a ‘natural born citizen’ – and therefore not suitable for the office of the President and therefore not suitable for the Office of the Vice-President,” Eastman wrote, without the “commentators to appoint. ” “
Eastman writes that before voters “so cavalierly accept ‘Senator Harris’ qualification” to serve as vice president, questions must be asked “about the status of their parents at the time of their birth.”
Harris’ mother, Shyamala Gopalan, was a breast cancer scientist who emigrated from India; her father, Donald Harris, was a professor from Jamaica. Harris is the first Black woman and first person of South Asian descent to be selected as a candidate for vice president of the Grand Party.
The theory proposed by Eastman and shared by Ellis is reminiscent of Mrs’ own promotion. Trump’s year-long promotion of the so-called birther conspiracy, in which he falsely claimed that President Barack Obama was not born in the US
Mr. Trump first suggested in 2011 that Mr. Obama, the first Black president, did not have a birth certificate, and it was not until 2016 that he withdrew from the unspoken claim, saying “President Barack Obama was born in the United States. States. Period. “
Nicole Sganga contributed to this report.
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