A New Jersey administrative law judge, Jeff Masin, ruled [opinion, PDF] on Tuesday that presidential hopeful Ted Cruz [campaign website] is a natural-born citizen of the US and is thus eligible to be placed on the New Jersey primary ticket. Masin ruled that Cruz is a natural-born citizen because his mother is a US citizen but noted that his decision could be further tailored after review by New Jersey’s Lt. Governor, Kim Guadagno [official website].

The issue of a presidential candidate’s natural-born citizenship has been hotly discussed both in this race and last, with interest groups advocating [JURIST report] for a constitutional amendment allowing for foreign-born presidents. Like the question at hand, in 2008, a judge of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania dismissed a lawsuit [JURIST report] challenging the citizenship status and eligibility of then-Senator Barack Obama to become US president. The lawsuit [complaint, PDF] filed by Pennsylvania attorney Philip Berg, had alleged that Obama did not meet the constitutional requirement of being a natural-born US citizen, arguing that Obama had lost his citizenship as a child when his mother married an Indonesian man, and that there was insufficient evidence that Obama had been born in the US. Judge R. Barclay Surrick found [decision, PDF] that Berg lacked standing to bring the suit because he did not face direct harm even if the allegations were true. The decision was upheld [decision, PDF] by the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.