An Illinois lawyer failed Tuesday in his effort to get Sen. Ted Cruz tossed off the Illinois presidential-primary ballot on the grounds of his Canadian birth.
Cook County Circuit Court Judge Maureen Ward Kirby did not deliver a decision on the merits of “birtherism” — the claim Mr. Cruz is not a natural-born citizen and thus ineligible to be president — instead dismissing the case on a procedural matter.
According to Judge Kirby, Lawrence Joyce only provided a copy of his case to lawyers representing Mr. Cruz and the Illinois state electoral board.
State law, she ruled, requires that ballot complaints about ineligibility be sent to Mr. Cruz and the board members themselves.
Mr. Cruz has never denied being born in Canada, but maintains that the issue is ridiculous because under longstanding U.S. statutory law, he was automatically a U.S. citizen at birth because his mother was a U.S. citizen.
“The child of a U.S. citizen born abroad is a U.S. citizen,” Mr. Cruz said at a CNN town hall meeting a couple of weeks ago, adding that the legal issue has been “clear from the very first days of the republic.”
• Victor Morton can be reached at vmorton@washingtontimes.com.
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