Religion has been closely identified with our history and government. SCHOOL DIST. OF ABINGTON TP. V. SCHEMPP, 374 U. S. 203 (1963); VAN ORDEN V. PERRY, 545 U.S. 677 (2005). The history of man is inseparable from the history of religion. ENGEL V. VITALE, 370 U. S. 421 (1962); SCHOOL DIST. OF ABINGTON TP. V. SCHEMPP, 374 U. S. 203 (1963).

Our Constitution is a covenant running from the first generation of Americans to us and then to future generations. It is a coherent succession. Each generation must learn anew that the Constitution's written terms embody ideas and aspirations that must survive more ages than one. PLANNED PARENTHOOD OF SOUTHEASTERN PA. v. CASEY, 505 U.S. 833 (1992).

Covenant is a religious concept, originating in the ancient Near Eastern religions. Covenant is also a critical component of Christianity. Indeed, the very salvation offered through Jesus Christ is called the New Covenant. See, e.g., Luke 22:20. From Christianity, the idea of covenant was adopted by the American Founding Fathers: 'Viewing the United States Constitution as the critical expression of the American constitutional tradition, we move back in time, seeking the less differentiated, more embryonic expression of what is in that document. Our search takes us to the earliest state constitution, then to colonial documents of foundation that are essentially constitutional such as the Pilgrim Code of Law, and then to proto-constitutions such as the Mayflower Compact. The political covenants written by English colonists in America lead us to the church covenants written by radical Protestants in the late 1500s and early 1600s, and these in turn lead us back to the Covenant tradition of the Old Testament. The American constitutional tradition derives much of its form and content from the Judeo-Christian tradition as interpreted by the radical Protestant sects to which belonged so many of the original European settlers of British North America.' Donald S. Lutz, The Origins of American Constitutionalism 6-7 (1982). One covenant principle that we see plainly in scripture is that a covenant may not be added to without mutual consent. We see God Himself revealing this principle in His covenant with Israel: "Do not add to what I command you." Deuteronomy 4:2. Any judge or justice who makes up out of whole cloth a new fundamental right, or arrogates to himself authority or power not granted by the Constitution, certainly adds to our national covenant, and thus becomes a covenant breaker.

In his landmark book, The Origins of American Constitutionalism, political scientist Donald Lutz reminds us that the genesis of a society's political values predates its written political documents. Indeed, a society's deepest values are born in its people's most ancient, primal, and unspoken worldview: 'Essentially a people share symbols and myths that provide meaning to their existence together and link them to some transcendent order. They can thus act together and answer the basic political questions: through what procedures do we reach collective decisions? By what standards do we judge our actions? What qualities or characteristics do we strive to maintain among ourselves? What kind of people do we wish to become? What qualities or characteristics do we seek or require in those who lead us? Far from being the repository of irrationality, these shared symbols and myths are the basis upon which collective, rational action is possible. Since these myths and symbols are frequently expressed in political documents, they tend to structure the form, determine the content, and define the meaning of the words in these documents. . . . By studying the political documents of a people, we can watch the gradual unfolding, elaboration and alteration of the myths and symbols that define them.' Through detailed empirical research, Lutz traces the roots of the core American constitutional tradition back in time to earlier state constitutions, colonial charters, English church covenants, and, ultimately, the Old Testament. Viewed in this fashion, the U.S. Constitution is only the latest written expression of Western values that have been developed and modified over thousands of years.

The further back one goes in American history, the more saturated with Hebraic references and allusions one finds American culture to be. Ironically, it is this Hebraic milieu rather than one grounded in the Christian New Testament, which most fueled the fires of motivation and imagination among American Christian colonists and founders of the Republic. Thus, Cecil Roth could write that were we to 'deprive modern Europe and America of their Hebraic heritage . . . the result would be barely recognizable.'

As scholars of religion and American history have repeatedly shown, American national identity has been shaped by the biblical language chosen by the first settlers, leaders, and preachers to emphasize both covenant and apocalypse. Of particular appeal to early Americans - from the Puritans to the architects of the American constitution - was the text of Deuteronomy, outlining the covenant between God and Israel. Like the Israelites, early Americans understood themselves to be entering into the Promised Land. Following the covenantal pattern outlined in Deuteronomy of prescribed moral and legal obligations to be kept by the people of Israel in return for God's blessing, the settlers understood themselves to be obligated to do God's will in return for God's blessings

The Puritans and their covenantal documents have had a lasting influence on American political life. As Sacvan Bercovitch, a scholar of American literature, puts it, 'Their influence appears most clearly in the extraordinary persistence of a rhetoric grounded in the Bible, and in the way that Americans keep returning to that rhetoric, especially in times of crisis, as a source of cohesion and continuity.' Some scholars have gone as far as to argue that the covenantal model was foundational for American political theory and practice.

Since Biblical times, it has been common practice to preclude foreigners from serving as political leaders. The Torah dictates, 'Thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee, whom YHVH thy God shall choose one from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee: thou mayest not set a stranger over thee, which is not thy brother.'

As Joseph Story observed in his Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States permitting a citizen, other than a natural born citizen, to be President of the United States was an exception to "the great fundamental policy of all governments, to exclude foreign influence from their executive councils and duties." III J. Story, Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States Section 1473 (Boston: Little, Brown: 1833). This "fundamental policy," in turn, was derived from the law of Moses which prohibited anyone, but a natural born citizen of Israel, from being king. Deuteronomy 17:14-15.

The basis of a natural-born requirement traces back to the Torah, where Moses prophesied about the people of Israel getting a king. The whole notion of a natural-born citizen is designed for the purpose of making sure that the chief executive would not have politically divided loyalties.

The biblical text consistently affirms that God reserves for himself the right of choosing kings and prophets and of raising up judges (Dt 17:14-20; 18:18; Jdg 3:15). Deuteronomy 17:15 gives "firm yet emphatic permission" to Israel to have a king. YHVH's act of choosing a king serves as legitimizing him. The text stipulates that the king must be an Israelite and not a foreigner.

Natural Born status was a requirement to minimize international intrigue and prevent the highest office in the land being held by someone with foreign allegiances.

The Framers were all citizens, and most had prior loyalty to the King of England, once being British subjects. Because the U.S. was a newly formed nation, they exempted themselves from the natural-born citizen requirement by adding a grandfather clause. Martin Van Buren, born on December 5, 1782, was the first American President not born a British subject. Before he served in 1837, his seven presidential predecessors were eligible to serve because they were citizens at the time the Constitution was adopted. John Jay, the first Chief Justice of the United States, wrote a letter to George Washington on July 25, 1787, indicating that he feared the possibility that the commander-in-chief could devolve upon someone who was the subject of a foreign power at the time of the birth: "Permit me to hint, whether it would be wise and seasonable to provide a strong check to the admission of Foreigners into the administration of our national Government; and to declare expressly that the Commander in Chief of the American army shall not be given to nor devolve on, any but a natural born Citizen." Historians agree that fear that a foreign ruler might someday be imported to reign over the United States prompted Jay's letter.

According to James Kent the relationship of a person to a nation was, like the relationship between husband and wife, parent and child, "derived from the law of nature," not from positive law. II J. Kent, Commentaries on American Law 5 (Claytor's Pub. Unabridged Ed. 1827). Thus, a person born to parents whose covenant allegiance to a nation had previously been established was a "natural born citizen," born into the civil covenant, just like a child born into the marriage covenant of his father and mother. Such a person need not swear allegiance to become a citizen, for his allegiance is determined by birth. In contrast, a person born to parents in covenant allegiance to another nation could become a "naturalized” citizen, but only by swearing allegiance to another nation.

A "natural born citizen" is a person who is entitled under the Constitution or laws of the United States to citizenship “at birth” or “by birth.”

The term includes

(1) a person who is born in the United States, including its territories and possessions and the District of Columbia, and who is subject to its jurisdiction, that is, not born to foreign diplomats or to hostile occupying forces;

(2) a person who is born abroad to two U.S. citizens; and

(3) a person who is born abroad to one U.S. citizen, if that citizen parent has met U.S. residency requirements.

Obama

What is a "natural born" citizen? An obvious interpretation of a "natural born" person would be a child born in the United States to American parents. Likewise, a "naturalized” citizen, that is a person born in a foreign country to foreign parents who later acquired American citizenship through naturalization, would not be eligible to serve as President because that person would not be a “natural born” citizen. What about a child born in a foreign country to American parents?

As Judge Story suggests, the proper way in which to interpret the eligibility clause under the circumstances would be to look at its original purpose, and to adopt that interpretation which "best harmonizes with the nature and objects, the scope and design, of the instrument.” Although the delegates to the Philadelphia Convention and the authors of The Federalist did not discuss at length the eligibility clause, we know from reason and experience, as Story explained, that "the great fundamental policy of all governments" is "to exclude foreign influence from their executive councils." This, he observed, "cuts off all chances for ambitious foreigners, who might otherwise be intriguing for the office; and interposes a barrier against those corrupt interferences of foreign governments in executive elections, which have inflicted the most serious evils upon the elective monarchies of Europe." It was thought dangerous, in other words, to make the presidency available to a person who might have just recent...

1. Those born of parents who are citizens.

2. A person born of American parents. Thus a person born abroad of American parents, according to the Constitution, would be eligible to the office of President.

3. One whose citizenship is established by the jurisdiction which the United States already has over the parents of the child, not what is thereafter acquired by choice of residence in this country.

4. Those persons born whose father the United States already has an established jurisdiction over, i.e., born to father's who are themselves citizens of the United States.

5. One who is a citizen by no act of law.

If a person owes their citizenship to some act of law, they cannot be considered a natural-born citizen. This leads us to defining natural-born citizen under the laws of nature.

Children naturally follow the condition of their fathers, and succeed to all their rights. The country of the fathers is therefore that of the children.

In order to be of the country, it is necessary that a person be born of a father who is a citizen; for, if he is born there of a foreigner, it will be only the place of his birth, and not his country. Vattel, The Law of Nations: I. XIX. § 212.

The Framers were not men who dropped words in by accident. They thought about every word. They argued about every word.

By drawing on the term so well known from English law, the Founders were recognizing the law of hereditary, rather than territorial allegiance. Alexander Porter Morse, "Natura...

1. Those born of parents who are citizens.

2. A person born of American parents. Thus a person born abroad of American parents, according to the Constitution, would be eligible to the office of President.

3. One whose citizenship is established by the jurisdiction which the United States already has over the parents of the child, not what is thereafter acquired by choice of residence in this country.

4. Those persons born whose father the United States already has an established jurisdiction over, i.e., born to father's who are themselves citizens of the United States.

5. One who is a citizen by no act of law.

If a person owes their citizenship to some act of law, they cannot be considered a natural-born citizen. This leads us to defining natural-born citizen under the laws of nature.

Children naturally follow the condition of their fathers, and succeed to all their rights. The country of the fathers is therefore that of the children.

In order to be of the country, it is necessary that a person be born of a father who is a citizen; for, if he is born there of a foreigner, it will be only the place of his birth, and not his country. Vattel, The Law of Nations: I. XIX. § 212.

The Framers were not men who dropped words in by accident. They thought about every word. They argued about every word.

By drawing on the term so well known from English law, the Founders were recognizing the law of hereditary, rather than territorial allegiance. Alexander Porter Morse, "Natura...

1. The language of the Constitution is unambiguous. The definition of "natural-born" is Res Ipsa Loquitur, "the thing speaks for itself," not by any statutory definition.

2. Natural-born citizenship is derived through birth to citizen parents. It is founded on, or derived from, the law of nature, not from positive (statutory man-made) law.

3. Congress cannot statutorily create natural-born citizens. 'Natural' is based on natural law, not statute. The same can be said about marriage between man and wife. No law or statute is required to define a natural state.

4. A child born of an American mother and an alien father cannot be a natural born citizen.

5. The term "natural-born" was commonly understood and there was no reason to define the term. At the time of the adoption of the Constitution, following the American Revolution, the term was well known to mean those born of citizens, most of whom had yet to be born.

The Constitution is certain and fixed. It contains the permanent will of the people, and is the supreme law of the land. The Constitution is stable and permanent, not to be worked upon by the temper of the times, nor to rise and fall with the tide of events. In expounding the Constitution of the United States, every word must have its due force, and appropriate meaning; for it is evident from the whole instrument, that no word was unnecessarily used, or needlessly added.

A provision of the Constitution does not admit of two distinctly opposite interpretations...