Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz won his citizenship legal battle in Pennsylvania Supreme Court. The state Supreme Court supports the decision of a lower court judge to dismiss the case that argues the eligibility of the Texas senator as a presidential candidate.
According to Sun Gazette, Pennsylvania's highest court upheld the ruling of a judge in lower court on Thursday to dismiss the citizenship lawsuit case against the Texas senator, Ted Cruz. The plaintiff, Carmon Elliott, who lives in Pittsburg and a registered Republican voter, filed the legal complaint.
Elliot stated on the complaint that the Republican presidential candidate is not qualified to be a president and is seeking to remove Cruz's name on Pennsylvania's April 26 primary ballot, due to his citizenship as a Canadian.
Though Elliot acknowledged the fact that Cruz's mother was born in United States, the lawsuit argues Cruz's birthplace, according to RT Question More. The plaintiff argued further that Cruz was not a legitimate "natural born citizen", as those who were not born in American soil are not qualified under the requirement of the US Constitution.
However, the presidential candidate's legal team argued that since his mother was an American citizen, Cruz automatically considered as "natural born." Commonwealth Court Judge Dan Pellegrini ruled March 11 that common law precedent and statutory history maintain that an eligible candidate includes any person born to an American citizen, regardless of where.
The judge said that since Ted Cruz was a citizen of the United States from birth, he is "eligible to serve as President of the United States," Independent reported. Pellegrini added that the view that citizens who were born on US soil were the only eligible to run as president are just "minority view among legal scholars." Elliott filed a motion of appeal in an attempt to overturn the ruling.
However, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court agreed with Pellegrini on Friday and denied the appeal. They also declined to give Elliott the opportunity to argue his position in front of them.
