BoJester wrote:
And where exactly in the constitution is that phrase used?
Natural born is not defined in the Constitution, in fact nothing is defined there. All the words were in common use and well understood at the time.
Since that time of course there have ben many arguments about exactly what the founders meant by what they wrote and some definitions have been made by scholars and courts since then.
One such definition was made by the Supreme Court (see some of my other posts for the details) and the court, which is the highest in the land, cannot be overturned without another judgment in the same court or higher (maybe Congress?).
Lower courts have ruled differently, but they cannot overturn the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court definition said that to be natural born one would have to be born of two US citizens. If the mother happened to be out of the country at the time, it did not help but it would not hurt the claim. Citizenship always flowed from the father for this purpose. Even today it cannot come from the mother, no matter where the child was born.
Native citizenship is granted by being born in the country, but this is not natural born necessarily. Another category is Naturalized Citizen. Most native citizens born in the country are also natural born, because their father is a citizen.
In Obama's case he was born either in the US or Kenya (or wherever) of an American mother. If he was born in the US he is a native citizen (his mother at the time did not have the required US residency to pass on citizenship). If he was born outside the US he is not a citizen of the US even though his Mom was a citizen because of her lack of qualification.
If his Dad was not a citizen at the time of his birth Obama cannot be a natural born US citizen no matter where he was born. If his Dad WAS a US citizen then he would be a natural born US citizen no matter where it happened because his Mom was a citizen also.
His Dad would not have to remain a US citizen, the only requirement is that both parents be US citizens at the time of birth. There was a push to further define the situation to require that the parents be married but I don't know what happened to that. If that was also true then Obama missed out again because his parents were never legally married.
The apologists and supporters of Obama tell you that the only factor that determines natural born is to be born in the US but that is not correct. That is the definition of Native Born and nothing else. Does it matter? You bet it does.