Several years back, I heard a commentator on MSNBC remind a Republican political operative who refused to say that President Obama was born in Hawaii–and therefore an American citizen–how the whole “birther” mess might one day come back to haunt the GOP. And has it ever!

Ted Cruz has now offically been hit with a karma bomb right upside his campaign for the White House, because a Texas attorney has filed suit in federal district court alleging that Cruz cannot be president because he’s not a “natural born citizen” of the United States. And there’s some validity to that argument.

You see, Teddy Boy was born in Canada, and one of the Constitution’s requirements for all who seek the highest office in the land is that the person be a “natural born” American citizen. Attorney Newton B. Schwartz, Sr.. in his complaint, is demanding that the U.S. Supreme Court take up and rule the issue since “natural born” has never been defined. As Schwartz noted in his filing:

“This 229-year question has never been pled, presented to or finally decided by or resolved by the U.S. Supreme Court. Only the U.S. Supreme Court can finally decide, determine judicially and settle this issue now.”

It’s kind of hard to argue with the legal specificity and logic of that argument. But that hasn’t stopped Cruz from trying to play Chief Justice and declaring:

“There’s nothing to this birther issue. Since September, the Constitution hasn’t changed. But the poll numbers have. I recognize that Donald (Trump) is dismayed that his poll numbers are falling in Iowa. But the facts and the law are really clear. Under longstanding U.S. law, the child of a U.S. citizen abroad is a natural born citizen.”

Not so fast, Teddy. Respected constitutional lawyer Mary Brigid McManamon at Widener University’s Delaware Law School says Cruz may indeed be hard pressed to prove he is indeed an American citizen:

“The Constitution provides that ‘No person except a natural born Citizen . . . shall be eligible to the Office of President.’ The concept of ‘natural born’ comes from common law, and it is that law the Supreme Court has said we must turn to for the concept’s definition. On this subject, common law is clear and unambiguous. The 18th-century English jurist William Blackstone, the preeminent authority on it, declared natural-born citizens are ‘such as are born within the dominions of the crown of England’ while aliens are ‘such as are born out of it.’ The key to this division is the assumption of allegiance to one’s country of birth. The Americans who drafted the Constitution adopted this principle for the United States. James Madison, known as the ‘father of the Constitution,’ stated, ‘It is an established maxim that birth is a criterion of allegiance. . . . [And] place is the most certain criterion; it is what applies in the United States.’”

Translation: Cruz is not qualified to be President. And something tells me that deep in his Harvard Law School heart Cruz knows he isn’t.

Yep, karma can be one mean monster when it decides to pay a visit.

This article was originally published by the same author at LiberalAmerica.org.