Re: 'Does Nikki Haley qualify as a natural born citizen?' [Village News, Letter, 3/9/23]

In regard to the opinion piece written by Judy Willis, concerning the requirements to qualify as a candidate for president of the United States, she states:

“One of the requirements to be president is to be a natural born citizen. A natural born citizen is not just someone who is born in the United States. This person must also have parents who were both citizens of the United States at the time of their birth.”

The statement in the opinion piece above is incorrect. The 14th amendment, sec 1, defines the requirements to be an American citizen. Of those requirements for American citizen parents, it only applies to foreign born, and then only requires one parent to be a citizen.

There is no mention in the Constitution that both parents, or for that matter either parent, must be a U.S. citizen to qualify a person born in the U.S. as a “natural born” U.S. citizen. The reference used by the author, “Vattel’s Law of Nations,” is just that, a reference and not law.

I challenge the author to show me where in the Constitution the requirement exists for the candidate to be born of two U.S. citizens. I will happily withdraw my comments if she can do that.

In the interim, to the question, “Does Nikki Haley qualify as a natural born citizen?”, the answer is a qualified yes!

Len Tevebaugh