Quote:
Originally Posted by FreedomFirst
And don't forget the original research in that law review article out of Professor Chin, who found that there was a slip up in how the regular statutes governing births abroad to U.S. military were handling Panamanian births, such that a law in 1937 was enacted and made retroactive to 1904 to confer citizenship upon offspring of U.S. parents born down there. Meaning that, "at birth" it's entirely possible that John McCain wasn't even a citizen of the U.S. much less a natural born one.
[quote="[url=http://www.snopes.com/politics/mccain/citizen.asp]Snopes[/url]":yylpvaky][size=7]In the most detailed examination yet of Senator John McCain's eligibility to be president, a law professor at the University of Arizona has concluded that neither Mr. McCain's birth in 1936 in the Panama Canal Zone nor the fact that his parents were American citizens is enough to satisfy the constitutional requirement that the president must be a "natural-born citizen."
Quote:
Documentation of United States Citizens Born Abroad Who Acquire Citizenship At Birth
The birth of a child abroad to U.S. citizen parent(s) should be reported as soon as possible to the nearest American consular office for the purpose of establishing an official record of the child?s claim to U.S. citizenship at birth. The official record is in the form of a Consular Report of Birth Abroad of a Citizen of the United States of America. This document, referred to as the Consular Report of Birth or FS-240, is considered a basic United States citizenship document. An original FS-240 is furnished to the parent(s) at the time the registration is approved.
REPORTING THE BIRTH
A Consular Report of Birth can be prepared only at an American consular office overseas while the child is under the age of 18. Usually, in order to establish the child?s citizenship under the appropriate provisions of U.S. law, the following documents must be submitted:
(1) an official record of the child?s foreign birth;
(2) evidence of the parent(s)? U.S. citizenship (e.g., a certified birth certificate, current U.S. passport, or Certificate of Naturalization or Citizenship);
(3) evidence of the parents? marriage, if applicable; and
(4) affidavits of parent(s)? residence and physical presence in the United States.
In certain cases, it may be necessary to submit additional documents, including affidavits of paternity and support, divorce decrees from prior marriages, or medical reports of blood compatibility. All evidentiary documents should be certified as true copies of the originals by the registrar of the office wherein each document was issued. A service fee of $65 is prescribed under the provisions of Title 22 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Section 22.1, item 9, for a Consular Report of Birth.
NOTE: Consular Reports of Birth are not available for persons born in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Panama Canal Zone before October 1, 1979, the Philippines before July 4, 1946, American Samoa, Guam, Swains Island, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, or the former U.S. Trust Territories of the Pacific Islands. Birth certificates for those areas, except the Panama Canal Zone, must be obtained from their respective offices of vital statistics. Panama Canal Zone birth certificates should be requested through the Vital Records Section of Passport Services (see address below.) The fees are the same as those for DS-1350.
You might want to double-check the exact language used by deVattel in connection with births to active military ... not sure I've seen anything he's written claim anything other than citizenship (not necessarily 'natural born') for such children.