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Electronic copy available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1157621
 
 Arizona Legal Studies
Discussion Paper No. 08-14
 Why Senator John McCain Cannot Be President:Eleven Months and a Hundred Yards Short ofCitizenship
Gabriel J. ChinThe University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of LawAugust 2008
This paper can be downloaded without charge from theSocial Science Research Network electronic library at:http://ssrn.com/abstract=1157621 
 
Electronic copy available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1157621
C 
OMMENT 
 D
 RAFT 
.
 
S
UBJECT TO
 R
 EVISION AND
C 
ORRECTION 
.
W
HY
S
ENATOR
J
OHN
M
C
C
AIN
C
ANNOT BE
P
RESIDENT
:E
LEVEN
M
ONTHS AND A
H
UNDRED
Y
ARDS
S
HORT OF
C
ITIZENSHIP
 
Gabriel J. Chin
*
 
 Abstract  Because Senator John McCain was not a citizen at birth, he is not a “natural bornCitizen” and thus is not “eligible to the Office of President” under the Constitution.Senator McCain was born in 1936 in the Canal Zone to U.S. citizen parents. Asrequested by Senator McCain’s campaign, distinguished constitutional lawyers LaurenceTribe and Theodore Olson examined the law and issued a detailed opinion offering tworeasons that Senator McCain was a natural born citizen. Neither is sound under current law. The Tribe-Olson Opinion suggests that the Canal Zone, then under exclusive U.S. jurisdiction, may have been covered by the Fourteenth Amendment’s grant of citizenshipto “all persons born . . . in the United States.” However, in the
Insular Cases
 , theSupreme Court held that “unincorporated territories” were not part of the United States for constitutional purposes. Accordingly, many decisions hold that persons born inunincorporated territories are not Fourteenth Amendment citizens. The Tribe-OlsonOpinion also suggests that Senator McCain obtained citizenship by statute. However, theonly statute in effect in 1936 did not cover the Canal Zone. Recognizing the gap, in 1937,Congress passed a citizenship law applicable only to the Canal Zone, granting Senator  McCain citizenship, but eleven months too late for him to be a citizen at birth. This essayconcludes by exploring how changes in constitutional law implied by the Tribe-OlsonOpinion, such as limiting the
Insular Cases
and expanding judicial review of immigrationand nationality laws passed by Congress, could make Senator McCain a citizen at birthand thus a natural born citizen.
*
Chester H. Smith Professor of Law, Professor of Public Administration and Policy, University of Arizona.Website:www.jackchin.org. I am grateful for helpful comments from David Adelman, DeborahBeaumont, Reid Fontaine, Steve Legomsky, Earl Maltz, David Marcus, Toni Massaro, Robert McWhirter,Howard Miller, Marc Miller, Gerry Neuman, Barak Orbach, Polly Price, Vic Romero, Carol Rose, TedRuthizer, Jorge G. Souss, Roy Spece, Suja Thomas, David Upham, and Frank Wu. The views expressedherein are solely mine. August 13, 2008
1
 
Electronic copy available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1157621
 Table of Contents
Introduction.........................................................................................................................3
 
I. Was the Canal Zone “the United States” for Purposes of the Citizenship Clause?.......10
 
A. The Canal Zone and Other Unincorporated Territories are not “the UnitedStates”.............................................................................................................12
 
B.
 
Natives of Unincorporated Territories are Not Citizens......................................14
 
II.
 
Citizenship as a Child of Citizens................................................................................16
 
A. The Exclusive Naturalization Powers of Congress...............................................17
 
B.
 
Citizenship by Descent in 1936: “The Canal Zone is a ‘no man’s land’”...........20
 
C.
 
Should § 1993 be Re-Drafted to Fix Congressional Error?.................................26
 
D. The Politics of Canal Zone Citizenship................................................................31
 
III. Senator McCain’s Paths to Natural Born Citizenship.................................................41
 
A. Restricting Congressional Power by Overruling the Insular Cases......................43
 
B.
 
Restricting Congressional Power by Recognizing Common Law Citizenship.....46
 
C. Restricting Congressional Power by Overruling the Plenary Power Doctrine.....48
 
IV. Conclusion..................................................................................................................53
 
Appendix A.Opinion of Laurence H. Tribe and Theodore B. Olson..............................56
 
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