In a decision almost completely ignored by the major media, and also by his fellow presidential candidates, a Pennsylvania judge ruled that Ted Cruz is a natural born citizen of the United States who can be elected president, and thus can run in the Pennsylvania primary. It is the first decision on this question since Donald Trump raised it in early January.

Article II, section 1 of the Constitution restricts the presidency to “natural born citizens,” a term that’s never been definitively defined by the Supreme Court and is still the source of some controversy among legal scholars. Cruz was born in Canada to an American mother.

Donald Trump raised the possibility in early January, using the excuse that Democrats would challenge Cruz’s eligibility if he won the nomination. “I don’t know. I really don’t know,” he claimed. A spokesman for then-candidate Rand Paul seconded the remarks.

Some liberal legal scholars argued that Trump was right. Among them were the University of Chicago’s Eric Posner writing in Slate and enjoying the originalist Cruz being eliminated (as he claimed) by the original meaning of the Constitution. Delaware Law School’s Mary Brigid McManamon, writing in the Washington Post, asserted that the common law tradition is “clear and unambiguous” in ruling out persons born in other countries and that the country’s founders accepted it.

Though Trump has since moved on to other attacks and the issue has faded from the public discussion, Occupy Pittsburgh activist Carmon Elliott picked it up in an attempt to keep Cruz from being included in the Pennsylvania primary on April 26th. He had registered as a Republican, thinking of challenging Cruz’s presence on the ballot.

“This is not a political issue,” he told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, though he admitted asking himself, “would you be so preoccupied if the candidate who was born outside the country been a Democrat or a progressive? I might not have had quite the enthusiasm that I’ve had.”

In making his case before the court, Elliott argued that “Being natural born is being born within the jurisdiction.” Cruz’s lawyer argued that the decision was not one the courts could make and that Cruz was a natural born citizen as that term had been understood.

Commonwealth Court Senior Judge Dan Pellegrini batted away Cruz’s first contention, pointing out that the Constitution doesn’t give the electoral college nor the Congress authority to decide the matter. Much of his argument depended on a 1968 law journal article by the general counsel for the Immigration and Naturalization Service, Charles Gordon. Taking the opposite position from the one McManamon had declared “clear and unambiguous,” Gordon argued that

Although the evidence of intent is slender, it seems likely that the natural born qualification was intended only to exclude those who were not born American citizens, but acquired citizenship by naturalization. The framers were well aware of the need to assure full citizenship rights to the children born to Americans citizens in foreign countries.

The English did this, Gordon argued, and the American founders would have done no less than they. He concluded: “The evidence, though not overwhelming, unquestionably points in the direction of such generosity.”

Pellegrini also appealed to a 2015 Harvard Law Review article by two former United States solicitors general and a 2016 report by the Congressional Research Service. Having reviewed the arguments, Pellegrini wrote in his decision, “the court holds, consistent with the common law precedent and statutory history, that ‘natural born citizen’ includes any person who is an American citizen from birth.” Because Cruz was a citizen from birth, he is eligible to serve as president.

It’s “shocking” wrote Rachel Stockman on the Lawnewz website (thanks to Mediaite for the link), that “on the heels of such extensive coverage of the issue earlier this year, that the media would jump all over the first major opinion to address these important Constitutional questions.” But no major news sites besides the Wall Street Journal blog and a few Pennyslvania newspapers did so.

Yet the case, she says, may well wind up being heard by the United States Supreme Court, especially as Elliott has said he will appeal the decision. The implications should Cruz win the Republican nomination could be serious.