Wouldn’t the court setting some extra-constitutional standard be an example of that judicial activism we’re always hearing about? There’s not a word in the constitution regarding how one proves eligibility, or what “natural born” might mean, and there’s certainly no serious evidence behind claims Obama wasn’t born in Hawaii.
I mean, except for the obvious step his mother took of putting a birth announcement in a Hawaii newspaper, just in case he ever wanted to run for President someday despite being, you know, born in Kenya.
You said — “I mean, except for the obvious step his mother took of putting a birth announcement in a Hawaii newspaper, just in case he ever wanted to run for President someday despite being, you know, born in Kenya.”
This is where people are mistaken in their “assessment” of why the mother would have put that announcement in the paper. People make it out to be that the mother is somehow looking ahead to Obama being a Presidential Candidate. No, she’s not. She’s merely trying to get it so that he’s a “citizen” of the United States, and therefore has the benefits of being that citizen. It’s nothing more than that, otherwise, he would be an immigrant.
That’s all she was doing, nothing more...
The problem comes in later, when Obama does decide to run for President. Then the facts start coming out.
I don’t know who you may think is advocating an extra-constitutional standard.
If the case presented meets the Court’s requirements for action, I am confident they will take action appropriately.
True, there is not a word in the Constitution about how to “prove” eligibility. So what? There is a constitutional standard for eligibility and, if that standard is not clear, it is perfectly legitimate and not activist for the Court to explain the standard or explain that the Congress needs to explain it-—and implement procedures for vouchsafing it, including procedures for challenging eligibility, appealing decisions on eligibility, and providing a remedy should a President-select be ineligible to serve.
If there is a question of whether the SOS in NJ fufilled a statutory duty to ensure only those eligible “by law” were on the presidential ballot, it is not activism for the Court to remand or return the case to NJ for the courts there to explain the statutory duty and make findings of fact as to whether that duty was satisfied.
And so on.
Do you know who now is in charge of vouchsafing the constitutional standard that a President be a natural born citizen? The POLITICAL PARTY OF THAT CANDIDATE. Do you not find that constitutionally abhorrent and just plain gross?
Gross and ripe for abuse as that is, that informal procedure may still work reasonably well in most cases. However, what about the case in which, as here, there are all kinds of factual and legal permutations that, really, no one knows the answer to.
I really am not skeptical at all that Obama has a Hawaiian BC and was born in Hawaii (although, of course, it’s possible he wasn’t; the facts surrounding his birth and early life are not usual in the least).
However, you should be aware that that is not, conclusively, the end of this discussion. For one thing, we have never in history had a President-select who had a foreign father—and who, therefore, was himself also a British subject at birth. (Arthur had a naturalized father, although there is some controversy there as well.) In fact, this was exactly who the framers didn’t want to take the job as Commander in Chief-—those born with “natural” and “perpetual” (under British law) “allegience” to England.
You know, just saying, that might make a difference in the “natural born citizen” status. Wouldn’t it be best for the nation and for Obama to find out, regardless if Obama ends up qualified?
In sum: it’s simply not clear that being a citizen by reason of birth in the U.S. in all cases and circumstances makes one *eligible to be president.*
If this is one of those few and far between exceptional cases, we should know that. Moreover, it’d be very helpful for the Supreme Court to clear this up for the future, again, regardless of how Obama’s situation plays out.
Did his birth announcement say where he was born?