Posted on 12/05/2008 1:59:35 AM PST by unspun
Your Guide to the Legal Challenges of Barack Obama’s Candidacy, to be continually updated
Item I: The Donofrio Case: "Natural Born Citizen" (not about Obama's birth certificate)
Currently before the United States Supreme Court lies Leo Donofrio v. Nina Mitchell Wells, New Jersey Secretary of State. This suit was received by Justice Thomas and by the determination of the entire court, it is scheduled for conference on Friday December 5. This conference is held to decide what, if any, further steps should be taken. Only two of these steps would be to either intervene in the process of selecting the president, or to hear oral arguments.
Essence of the case
By this case Barack Obama, John McCain, and Roger Calero (of the Socialist Workers Party, on the New Jersey ballot) do not qualify as “natural born Citizens” under Article 2, Section 1, Clause 5 of the Constitution, which states the following:
Standing
Other cases against Obama's candidacy have been rejected by various courts, due to a private citizen's apparent lack of standing to sue a candidate. However, this case is an action against the Secretary of State of New Jersey and as such, has precedent, as Donofrio relates. He originally sought to motivate the Secretary to qualify or disqualify these three candidates on the New Jersey ballot. Donofrio also cites 2000's famous Florida case, Bush v. Gore, as precedent for a state case regarding a presidential election to be brought to the Supreme Court for emergency action.
Merit: reasoning behind Donofrio v. Wells
To interpret the U.S. Constitution with intellectual honesty, one must maintain the integrity of the meaning of the Constitution. That means interpreting the letter of the law: its words and phrases, based upon the immediate context of the Constitution itself, any explanations of the framers, traditional meaning inherited by the framers, and the generally accepted, legal meanings of words and phrases in use at the time of its drafting. Further, attention is to be paid to the spirit of the law, by understanding the purposes of the framers and the results they sought or sought to avoid, as they drafted each element of the Constitution.
In view of these considerations, being a “natural born Citizen,” here requires meeting both of these two criteria: 1. citizenship must be passed on by the constitutionally pertinent principle of natural law, which assumes that citizenship is inherited from one’s father’s citizenship and, 2. citizenship must be granted by means of being born in the actual territory of the United States. Accordingly, to maintain the original intention of the Constitution's framers, a U.S. President is to be free of competing allegiances with other nations, from birth onward. To cite Donofrio's own words from his blog:
The Framers wanted to make themselves eligible to be President, but they didn't want future generations to be Governed by a Commander In Chief who had split loyalty to another Country. The Framers were comfortable making an exception for themselves. They did, after all, create the Constitution. But they were not comfortable with the possibility of future generations of Presidents being born under the jurisdiction of Foreign Powers, especially Great Britain and its monarchy, who the Framers and Colonists fought so hard in the American Revolution to be free of.According to this case, Barack H. Obama II is not qualified, because his father, Barack H. Obama I, was a citizen of the United Kingdom as a Kenyan. Kenya was a British colony at the time of Obama II’s birth in 1961. This citizenship was conferred to Obama II by U.K. law. Further to this case is the apparent fact that Obama II became a citizen of Indonesia, when he lived there as a child with his mother and adoptive father, Lolo Soetoro. This would mean Obama's U.S. Citizenship status was revoked, since Indonesia had no dual-citizenship provision with the U.S.A.
According to this case, John McCain is not qualified, because he was born on a military base in the Panama Canal Zone, which was a protectorate of the United States and has never been a territory of the Untied States, even though his parents were U.S. Citizens.
According to this case, Roger Calero is not qualified, because he was born a citizen of Nicaragua, to foreign parents, on foreign soil. The mere fact that Roger Calero was on the ballot in five states indicates to the Supreme Court and the nation, that the process of qualifying a presidential candidate is broken and intervention is necessary.
Merit: context, corroboration, and case lawCorroborative to this case, the Constitution's Article 1, Section 8, Clause 10 states that a power of Congress is to "define and punish... offenses against the law of nations." The Law of Nations has been international law, which as documented by Emmerich de Vatel (1758) states, in Chapter XIX, paragraph 212, "The natives, or natural-born citizens, are those born in the country, of parents who are citizens. As the society cannot exist and perpetuate itself otherwise than by the children of the citizens, those children naturally follow the condition of their fathers, and succeed to all their rights.
Vatel follows with paragraph 215, in which he asserts, "It is asked whether the children born of citizens in a foreign country are citizens? The laws have decided this question in several countries, and their regulations must be followed.(59) By the law of nature alone, children follow the condition of their fathers, and enter into all their rights (§ 212); the place of birth produces no change in this particular, and cannot, of itself, furnish any reason for taking from a child what nature has given him; I say 'of itself,' for, civil or political laws may, for particular reasons, ordain otherwise."
The chief framer of the related 14th Amendment of the Constitution, John A. Bingham corroborated this dual criteria stating, "every human being born within the jurisdiction of the United States of parents not owing allegiance to any foreign sovereignty is, in the language of your Constitution itself, a natural born citizen." An extensive analysis citing this is "Defining Natural-Born Citizen," by P.A. Madison, The Federalist Blog.
Since then, the case of Perkins v. ELG, U.S. 325 (1939) provides precedent for requiring these two criteria, for one to be called a "native born citizen" (see, "The Law -- Perkins v. ELG," blog, The Betrayal).
St. George Tucker, Justice of the Supreme Court of Virgina, wrote a version of the authoritative Blackstone's Commentaries: With Notes of Reference to the Constitution... which became a recognized resource for determining the framers' original intent. In his Volume 1 -- Appendix; Note D, he explained that the Article 2 "natural born Citizen" requirement was purposed to avoid competing allegiances:
That provision in the constitution which requires that the president shall be a native-born citizen (unless he were a citizen of the United States when the constitution was adopted,) is a happy means of security against foreign influence, which, whereever it is capable of being exerted, is to he dreaded more than the plague. The admission of foreigners into our councils, consequently, cannot be too much guarded against; their total exclusion from a station to which foreign nations have been accustomed to, attach ideas of sovereign power, sacredness of character, and hereditary right, is a measure of the most consummate policy and wisdom. It was by means of foreign connections that the stadtholder of Holland, whose powers at first were probably not equal to those of a president of the United States, became a sovereign hereditary prince before the late revolution in that country. Nor is it with levity that I remark, that the very title of our first magistrate, in some measure exempts us from the danger of those calamities by which European nations are almost perpetually visited. The title of king, prince, emperor, or czar, without the smallest addition to his powers, would have rendered him a member of the fraternity of crowned heads: their common cause has more than once threatened the desolation of Europe. To have added a member to this sacred family in America, would have invited and perpetuated among us all the evils of Pandora's Box.
Certainly, this applied to sons of subjects of the United Kingdom (and the fact that one such subject would travel abroad to declare himself a "Citizen of the World" before hundreds of thousands might also have provided relevant warning).
Intended result of this case
The Donofrio suit calls for a stay of the Dec. 15 Electoral College vote, until a constitutionally acceptable means is attained, of presenting the Electors a set of qualified candidates.
During or after their Dec. 5 conference, the Supreme Court could decide upon a number of directions. Their next step may be revealed this very day, or on Monday, Dec. 8, or at some other time. A book could be written of the many potential outcomes -- and historians will write libraries about one set of results, in their hindsight.
"Post Script" in HTML
Leo Donofrio reports that numerous obstacles have been intentionally placed in the way of his petitioning the courts, in both New Jersey and at the Supreme Court. He also names public officials who have at times attempted to mislead him and by their treatment of his case, have obstructed his path to the Supreme Court. That is another story and not an undramatic one.
Donofrio has had three blogs -- and Internet harassment, as follows:
This report may be updated as progress is made. For information about the operations of the Supreme Court in such matters, see "A Reporter's Guide to Applications Pending Before the Supreme Court of the United States." h/t: numerous bloggers and forum posters including FReepers, MamaTexan and joygrace
Basically Donofrio is saying that 1) Obama’s father was from Kenya under the British gov. at the time Obamas Jr. was born, so that alone disqualifies Obama Jr. because of his father’s allegiance to another country, or something to that effect and 2) Obama Jr. later moved to Indonesia and was adopted by another father who had allegiance to that country and introdused the dual citizenship concept example again. So basically Obama Jr. is saddled with 2 examples of duel citizenship, with a suspicion of a fake birth certificate on top of all that. Is that right?
Yes, pretty much.
The most basic issue is that he was born with a father who was a U.K. citizen (provided he was his married father).
PING
Source: Horrible Facts about the End of the United States
So a question for those who are closely following this case: Does the Donofrio case ask the court to demand that Obama provide a copy of his Birth Certificate?
U 1 cynical guy! Some sheeple actually realize what has been threatened will be the course: habitual, continual suits every time the non-president does ANYTHING w/ power of office (you think the clerks boffo now?)...complete disrespect by foreign governments (just think, gazink!overt and covert blackmailing by those who DO know reality & ramifications-but why would rank & file NEA educated Dems even THINK of such!)...then very real possibility of widespread resignations at many levels but especially the military... potential for coup(s) d’etat(s)...
Several scenarios have been offered on blockage by officials involved in deliverance of Electoral College vote, Congressional confirmation of election, administration of Prez oath...oaths taken by ANYONE in the administration to uphold a usurper.
Are you kidding? If Bam Bam is found against it’ll be Prez Biden or Shillary. Bam Bam will have his people in and therein is his victory. Only Q then is if he goes to prison or some forgiving island-nation, if sub-Prez doesn’t pardon AFTER A TRIAL. Oh his poor little girls will be “punished” after all: no blackberry service!
Sorry, going “wobbly” here awfully early.
“Even if the Supreme Court had a unanimous decision that 0bama was not Constitutionally qualified to be President, who would actually enforce it?”
Maybe public opinion would force the government to enforce the decision. It doesn’t make sense to just bury something very important that is amiss just because we don’t know how it will pan out. Our laws, Constitution, and process are all that separate us from a totalitarian society.
That said, I have no idea whether this is something that the Supreme Court should look into. I do know that if they find it is important they should look into it without consideration of the consequences of pursuing it.
I absolutely don’t support attempts to delegitimize any president. However, since I’ve recently been reading about this, after ignoring it for so long, there are some questions. Why are virtually all of his records sealed? Why doesn’t he just submit documents to the court, as McCain did. After all, there was not this kind of reaction when McCain’s eligibility was questioned last spring. Why is that?
My question would be this: Was McCain a Panamanian citizen at birth??? Did he ever have Panamanian citizenship???
His case is different from Obama's by virtue of the fact that both of his parents were American citizens.
Yes, it’s different. I was replying to a poster who pointed out that a military base was US territory. That is true, but McCain wasn’t born on the base but in a civilian hospital in Panama. So technically he wasn’t born on US soil.
In a word, no. The wording in Donofrio v Wells is interesting, though:
As regarding the issues surrounding Senator Obama's birth
certificate, and if it may please this Honorable Court, I would point
out that Senator Obama has not been presented with a genuine legal request from a party with proper standing to command
him in any way, and therefore he has no legal responsibility
to submit or to bend his integrity. And for that, he certainly
deserves respect.
Appellant believes that if Senator Obama is presented with a
legal request from a government authority sanctioned to make such request, that Senator Obama will respond accordingly and put
this issue behind him forever.
Appellant believes that if Senator Obama is presented with a legal request from a government authority sanctioned to make such request, that Senator Obama will respond accordingly and put this issue behind him forever.
Very interesting wording by Donofrio.
OTOH, it would seem that the court would need to see the BC in order to validate that Obama's father was a citizen of Kenya. So their should be an implied requirement that Obama provide such proof by releasing the real (not COLB) Birth Certificate.
Bush himself? Declare martial law and demand a new election? Hardly. He's already got his bags packed and can't wait to get the heck out of office.
Congress intervene? HA! Not this Congress or the next one. Maybe a dozen of them would make some noises about it, but they would not follow through.
There are a lot of scary scenarios from the dominoes being set into motion IF it is found that he is not a natural born citizen. The more serious being civilian uprisings or even a faction of the military forming a coup (Due to their Commander and Chief not being legitimate).
I see the more likely scenario being that the administration is blackmailed from various factions -- domestic and foreign -- which would dictate policies from the administration. Watch for a lot of Executive Orders if this occurs.
Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of time at the moment to expand, but something to remember is that the level of confusion that surrounded British Citizenship as de-colonization was going on is absolutely unreal. The Brits have had numerous overhauls of their laws since the British Nationality Act of 1948, which governed Barry's birth.
Long story short, the little bit of information that is blurbed on fightthesmears and FAKEcheck.org is not nearly enough to determine how he acquired British citizenship (there are five ways) and he lost it. Whichever way it was, though, it was either through his physical birth in Kenya, or his father's registration of his birth if born abroad.
The fact checker sites tried to make it seem as though he just got it from having a Kenyan daddy, but that is simply not the case. There was an affirmative step at the very least by his father, which is a major differentiator.
I think the Court by necessity will have to see the goods relating to his birth documentation and any subsequent affirmations/renunciations by Barry or even by his mother. Either way, they are the centerpiece of the debate on NatBornCit and it is an extremely subtle and technical case that Donofrio has brought.
Here is a link to the British Citizenship site: UK Border Agency
He got it by birth, meaning he's a natural-born citizen. The more I read about this case, the more I see how baseless it truly is. I'd rather see everyone go back to the whole "show us your BC" argument than follow this dead-end street.
I think if you check these web sites
http://naturalborncitizen.wordpress.com/
http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/
you’ll find some useful information. This isn’t a complete list, but our first 9 Presidents were born prior to the adoption of the constitution, and the first seven, and their parents, were all born British. They all could become President under the grandfather clause of Art. 2 Sec 1 Cl.5...”or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution,”
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