“I have proven that to be a legal President, one must “qualify” to Congress or it is the duty of Congress to name a replacement.”
Actually the 20th Amendment says that if a President fails to qualify “then the Vice President elect shall act as President until a President shall have qualified:” Congresses role is to pass a law if both the President and Vice-President fail to qualify “declaring who shall then act as President, or the manner in which one who is to act shall be selected”
The amendment doesn’t explain what “failed to qualify” means or what proof is required to show qualification, or whose responsibility it is to determine qualification.
It appears that most historians, constitutional scholars and political scientists interpret “qualifying” or “failing to qualify” as being related to acquiring a majority of the electoral votes.
“Two congressional reports found that the President-elect is the eventual winner of the majority of electoral ballots cast in December. The Congressional Research Service (CRS) of the Library of Congress, in its 2004 report ‘Presidential and Vice Presidential Succession: Overview and Current Legislation,’ discussed the question of when candidates who have received a majority of electoral votes become President-elect. The report notes that the constitutional status of the President-elect is disputed:
‘Some commentators doubt whether an official President- and Vice President-elect exist prior to the electoral votes being counted and announced by Congress on January 6, maintaining that this is a problematic contingency lacking clear constitutional or statutory direction. Others assert that once a majority of electoral votes has been cast for one ticket, then the recipients of these votes become the President- and Vice President-elect, notwithstanding the fact that the electoral votes are not counted and certified until the following January 6.’
The Congressional Research Service report quotes the 1933 U.S. House committee report accompanying the Twentieth Amendment as endorsing the latter view:
‘It will be noted that the committee uses the term ‘President elect’ in its generally accepted sense, as meaning the person who has received the majority of electoral votes, or the person who has been chosen by the House of Representatives in the event that the election is thrown into the House. It is immaterial whether or not the votes have been counted, for the person becomes the President elect as soon as the votes are cast.’
Both reports make clear that becoming President-elect is contingent upon winning the majority of electoral votes.”—Wikipedia
A putative president-elect then “fails to qualify” by no longer having 270 Electoral votes.
Uncle Sham’s theory could conceiveably be correct if there were enough written objections to the Electors of an alleged ineligible president-elect and those objections were upheld in both Houses of Congress and the putative President-Elect then no longer had a certified majority (270) of the Electoral votes.
Disqualification of enough Electors could result in a president-elect failing to qualify. That would be the final check on an ineligible person assuming the office of president,
First off, "fails to qualify" means that Congress must name an interim President and if this is the case, the one from the election cycle didn't "qualify". The Amendment talks about the President Elect either dying before taking the oath or "failing to qualify". In both of these circumstances, we are talking about a "President Elect", a person who has been identified as such does not officially exist until all of the election is over and Congress has banged it's gavel accepting the results. This certainly means that this "qualify" business is something OTHER than election results. What could it be other than the qualifications to hold the office of President, the eligibility requirements from Article Two, section Two?
In order to prove eligibility, being 35 years old or older and being a natural born citizen, it would seem a birth certificate would do the trick. The term "or if the President Elect shall have failed to qualify" describes an action of the President Elect that he failed at so clearly it is the burden of the one seeking the office to qualify.