Posted on 12/15/2015 9:34:46 AM PST by cll
Not eligible. The Constitution requires candidates to be a resident "within the United States" for 14 years. Garcia Padilla has lived on the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico for his entire life, and has thus resided "within the United States" for 0 years. Protectorates and territories don't count -- had McCain lived in Panama Canel Zone his entire life, he wouldn't be eligible either despite having U.S. citizenship at birth and living in a region under U.S. control. The "14 years" clause was written specifically to prevent people who were born with U.S. citizenship but have no ties to the mainland United States from taking office as President. Putting a territorial resident on a presidential ticket is unprecedented, and would have as much standing in federal court as the "non-member Speaker of the House" that Levin and his followers keep fantasizing about.
I think the RATS are more likely to put Julian Castro on the ticket as veep. Very appropriate last name.
The Cuban Castros are at least upfront with what they are: Greedy f**ks masquerading as Communists.
The RATs here are Communists masquerading as Americans.
Was Fortuno not eligible either? As I recall he was actually (seriously) suggested as a Romney running mate.
A dentist AND an Olympic Fencer, with a French surname? Holy bleep!
The constitution doesn't say "consecutive" 14 years living in the United States, so I think the Fortuno crowd was trying to weasel the residency thing by adding up his years in law school at the University of Virginia, internship in Washington D.C., service in Congress, etc. Still, I remember it still fell short of a total of 14 years residency in the United States (I believe all the years combined amounted to 11-12 years living in the United States).
His name was floated briefly... I don't think there was really any serious "discussion" of putting a guy from a place with 0 electoral votes on the ticket. I have doubts about whether Fortuno would be eligible, but I'm certain that Garcia-Padilla is not. If they intended to let people from terrorities serve as head of state, they would have said so. As I noted at the time with Fortuno, its basically the U.S. equivalent of arguing that someone from Jamaica could become Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
The Congressional Research Service has opined that the 14 years of residency within the United States is limited to residency in States of the Union or the District of Columbia, but the issue never has been litigated. Luis Fortuño had not resided in the U.S. mainland for 14 years prior to the 2012 elections (even if one counted his 4 years of college and 3 years of law school, or even his 4 years as Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico in the U.S. House of Representatives, during all of which time he was domiciled in Puerto Rico).
And a redhead. Married to a TV presenter. From the small town of Patillas (which literally means “sideburns”). I swear I’m not making any of this up.
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