A judge in Illinois will hear arguments on Friday for a case challenging Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R-TX) eligibility to run for president, according to USA Today.
Lawrence Joyce filed a complaint with the Illinois Board of Elections charging that Cruz is not a “natural born citizen.” The board of elections ruled against Joyce earlier in February, writing that Cruz “is a natural born citizen by virtue of being born in Canada to his mother who was a U.S. citizen at the time of his birth as the candidate did not have to take any steps or go through a naturalization process at some point after his birth.”
Joyce appealed the decision and Judge Maureen Ward Kirby will hear arguments for the case at the Circuit Court of Cook County in Chicago on Friday.
Joyce told USA Today that he is a Ben Carson supporter, and that he is worried that if Cruz secures the Republican nomination, his candidacy will then be derailed by lawsuits filed by Democrats.
“What I fear is that Ted Cruz becomes the nominee, come September, Congressman Alan Grayson of Florida will go forward with his threats and probably several other Democrats will file suit to prevent Ted Cruz from being on the ballot,” Joyce said.
“And at that point, I fear they’ll get a string of victories in the lower courts and the funding for Ted Cruz would dry up, his numbers would plummet in the polls, he may be forced to give up the nomination,” he added.
Cruz spokesman Rick Tyler told USA Today on Thursday that he did not have a comment on the hearing.
When Joyce filed the complaint with the Illinois Board of Elections, Cruz’s lawyers filed a brief arguing that the senator is eligible to be president. They wrote that “every judicial decision and virtually every constitutional authority agree that a ‘natural born citizen’ is anyone who was a citizen at the moment they were ‘born’—as opposed to becoming a citizen through the naturalization process at some point after their birth.”
