Cruz Eligible for GOP Primary in Illinois: Judge

CHICAGO, IL - Ted Cruz, the junior U.S. Senator from Texas, will remain on the GOP primary ballot when voters in Illinois come to the polls on March 15 after a Cook County Circuit Court Judge confirmed his eligibility to run for president on Tuesday.

Circuit Court Judge Maureen Ward Kirby did not hear the argument of Poplar Grove resident Lawrence J. Joyce, who petitioned the Illinois State Board of Elections to have Cruz’s name removed from the ballot because he was born in Canada and allegedly not eligible to run for president of the United States, according to the Chicago Tribune. Instead, Kirby reaffirmed the decision from the Elections Board that Cruz is a United States citizen because of “the naturalization process at some point after birth.”

Joyce argued Cruz was not a “natural-born citizen” because he was born in Canada to an American mother and Cuban father.

Sharee Langenstein, Cruz’s lawyer, called the lawsuit “a misguided attempt to distract the voters away from the candidate who’s the most qualified candidate we have for president.”

more via the Chicago Tribune