What if John McCain can't actually BE President?

No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.  Section I, Article II of the US Constitution

Despite his age, I think it's safe to say that John McCain was not alive at the time of the Constitution's adoption.  But is he a "natural born Citizen"?

Born August 29 (hey- another Virgo!), 1936 at Coco Solo Air Base, John Sidney McCain III was born in the Panama Canal Zone to US parents.  There's no doubt that he is a citizen, and has been since he was born.  But that "natural born" tag does not have a real clear definition, and since the only instance of the distinction in the ENTIRETY of US law is the qualification for President and Vice-President, it hasn't had many cases tested against it.

In 1790, the Congress passed "An act to establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization", providing the process for residents to become citizens.  Included was this line:

"the children of citizens of the United States that may be born beyond sea, or outside the limits of the United States, shall be considered as natural born citizens" 

This followed the English tradition (going back to 1350) of granting the same rights of inheritance to children of British subjects born overseas, then further in the early 18th century, of expressly declaring those children to be natural-born subjects of the crown. 

Five years later, this law was repealed, and a new act for naturalization passed.  The relevant clause now read:

the children of citizens of the United States, born out of the limits and jurisdiction of the United States, shall be considered as citizens of the United States"

No longer are the children considered "natural born."  This could easily have been an oversight on the authors, but based on this phrasing, the Supreme Court ruled in Dred Scott that citizenship deriving from this clause was a form of "naturalization."  They didn't rule on the question of whether such a person would be eligible for the Presidency, since they were instead ruling on whether a slave was a person or property, but a citizen is either citizen "by birth" or "by law" (naturalized), and the implication, if read, would infer these children would not be "natural born citizens."

So, thanks to Dred Scott and, oh yeah, the Civil War, the Fourteenth Amendment was passed, overruling Dred Scott and giving a definitive answer:

All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.

So, that's it:  Either you're born in the United States, or you're naturalized.

In case this point doesn't seem clear, United States vs. Wong Kim Ark, a case ruling on whether a child born on US soil to foreign nationals is a citizen, provides this telling comment in the dissent, saying that the ruling would have the effect that:

"...the children of foreigners, happening to be born to them while passing through the country, whether of royal parentage or not, or whether of the Mongolian, Malay or other race, were eligible to the presidency, while children of our citizens, born abroad, were not." Chief Justice Fuller, dissenting.

Note that because this was a dissent, it does not hold any value as a ruling itself, but at least suggests (strongly, I think) that citizenship granted by statute at birth is NOT the same as "natural born" citizenship.

So, is a US air base, in the Panama Canal Zone, part of the United States?

Legally, the Canal Zone was Panamanian territory under exclusively American control, but not actually incorporated into the United States itself.  So, no- the Canal Zone was not the United States.  Nor is a military base on foreign soil, United States- a point that the conservative basta... I mean... members of the Supreme Court seem quite clear to point out when they rule on Guantanamo. 

So, John McCain was not born in the United States.

He was automatically naturalized, by statute, at birth.

 

John McCain can not be President.

 

 

And no, I don't expect anyone to pay attention to this, either.