I read somewhere that Obama’s father was still married to a wife in Kenya and fathered other children by her at the time he allegedly married Obama’s mother and fathered him. If so, wouldn’t his marriage to Ann Dunham have been invalid? And if there was no valid marriage, Obama was not born a U.S. citizen because that requires the parents to be lawfully married. If he wasn’t born a U.S. citizen he is not eligible to be elected President. I may be off track here but if Obama’s father was still married at the time he “married” Ann Dunham, the second marriage is invalid. Somebody, please help me out here.
That is so wierd.
Used to be the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) had a rule that your honored ancestor, a Revolutionary War veteran, had to have been married for any of his or her offspring to be qualified for membership.
Darned near put them out of business for a while after they'd implemented that rule ~ which they'd done only to keep out African-American applicants.
Seems that it wasn't all that common for our honored ancestors of the era of our founders to have "real marriages". Jumping the Broom was pretty much the name of the game.
You said: “if there was no valid marriage, Obama was not born a U.S. citizen because that requires the parents to be lawfully married.”
First, if Obama was born in Hawaii, then parents marriage status doesn’t matter at all: he’s automatically a natural born citizen. However, if he was born outside U.S., then different rules apply depending on whether he was child of unwed mother or American mom married to alien spouse etc. HOWEVER, “A marriage that did not conform to the laws of the country or state in which it was performed may be a void marriage, but only after declared so by an
appropriate authority, usually a court in the jurisdiction
where the marriage occurred. Prior to such judicial
declaration, the marriage may be considered voidable.
A voidable marriage is considered valid for all purposes
unless and until annulled or voided by the court. Even
after a marriage is voided, there is every likelihood that
the children’s status will not be affected. Every state in
the United States, for example, considers children of a
void marriage to be legitimate (see 7 FAM 1133 Exhibit
1133.4-2, Part II). http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/86757.pdf (pdf p. 37)
Thus, IF Obama’s parents really were “married” (i.e., there’s some sort of marriage certificate or documentation to prove this) but someone now wanted to challenge its legitimacy on grounds that it was void given Sr’s already being married, this would NOT affect the legitimacy of the marriage in terms of which set of citizenship rules might apply to an out-of-country birth.