Currently, Title 8 of the U.S. Code, Section 1401 defines the following as people who are "citizens of the United States at birth:"

* Anyone born inside the United States
* Any Indian or Eskimo born in the United States, provided being a citizen of the U.S. does not impair the person's status as a citizen of the tribe
* Any one born outside the United States, both of whose parents are citizens of the U.S., as long as one parent has lived in the U.S.
* Any one born outside the United States, if one parent is a citizen and lived in the U.S. for at least one year and the other parent is a U.S. national
* Any one born in a U.S. possession, if one parent is a citizen and lived in the U.S. for at least one year
* Any one found in the U.S. under the age of five, whose parentage cannot be determined, as long as proof of non-citizenship is not provided by age 21
* Any one born outside the United States, if one parent is an alien and as long as the other parent is a citizen of the U.S. who lived in the U.S. for at least five years (with military and diplomatic service included in this time)
* A final, historical condition: a person born before 5/24/1934 of an alien father and a U.S. citizen mother who has lived in the U.S.

absoluteparanoia: That's great, but that's not the requirement to be president. You must be a naturalized citizen.

No, you must be a natural-born citizen--a citizen at birth. A naturalized citizen is one who was granted citizenship at an older age.

McCain = son of American parents born in American-controlled territory. Natural citizen.

OTOH, Arnold Schwartzenegger = son born in Austria to Austrian parents who later applied for US citizenship. Naturalized citizen.

I_C_Weener: I have it on good authority that McCain isn't even white. In fact, with these "fake but accurate" documents I can prove that he is in fact...a black man with melanin deficiency.

Yeah. So he can have Michael Jackson for a running mate and be the first all-black and all-white mixed-or-at-least-confused-gender ticket. No constitutional requirement that you have a complete nose that I know of.

absoluteparanoia: There are literally dozens of court cases that show that a natural born citizen is not necessarily a citizen at birth.

Maybe you mean the other way around, that a citizen at birth is not necessarily a natural-born citizen? Because any naturalized citizen would have previously been a citizen of someplace else, or a stateless person. That is the argument the NYT is trying to make.

The Constitution and the Federalist papers make it clear that the intent is that no foreigner ever become the chief executive of the US, even if they are a naturalized citizen.

However, the Supreme Court has consistently held that Congress can define who is a natural-born citizen, and the US Code right now, and since 1790, says that John McCain is a natural-born citizen of the United States, as he born to US parents abroad. Further, he was born under US jurisdiction and sovereignty in the Canal Zone. Further, his father was a naval officer serving there--performing a government function--children of foreign government functionaries do not acquire citizenship as a result of place of birth, they get the citizenship of their parents.

Now, Mrs. Pandabear is in a very slightly different situation. She was born in Panama City, Panama, to US parents resident in the Canal Zone. Perhaps ten or twenty miles from where McCain was born. However, her father was a retired naval officer, and a contractor for the Panama Canal Commission--not an employee of the US government. She is eligible for Panamanian citizenship if she were to renounce her US citizenship. But until she does, which she never would, she is a natural-born citizen of the United States, because she was born to US parents.