Simple English definitions for legal terms
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A natural-born citizen is someone who is a citizen of the United States from birth and did not have to go through a process to become a citizen later in life. This is important because in order to become the President or Vice President of the United States, a person must be a natural-born citizen. This means that they were either born on U.S. soil or born to U.S. citizen parents while abroad. The U.S. Constitution does not clearly define what "natural-born" means, but it is generally understood to mean someone who is a citizen from birth.
A natural-born citizen is someone who is a citizen of the United States from birth and did not have to go through a process called naturalization to become a citizen later in life. This means that they were born a citizen and did not have to do anything to become one.
The term "natural-born citizen" is important because it appears in the U.S. Constitution. In order to become the President or Vice President of the United States, a person must be a natural-born citizen. This means that they must have been born a citizen of the United States.
There is some debate over what exactly "natural-born" means. However, the Supreme Court has ruled that anyone born on U.S. soil and subject to its jurisdiction is a natural-born citizen, regardless of their parents' citizenship. This is called birthright citizenship.
For example, if someone is born in the United States to parents who are not U.S. citizens, that person is still a natural-born citizen because they were born on U.S. soil and subject to its jurisdiction.
There is also some debate over whether someone can be a natural-born citizen if they were born outside of the United States but their parents were U.S. citizens. However, there is a law that says that children of U.S. citizens born abroad are also considered to be citizens from birth.
Overall, being a natural-born citizen means that you were born a citizen of the United States and did not have to go through a process to become one. This is important for certain political offices, like the President and Vice President, because they must be natural-born citizens to hold those positions.