Full Symposium Sept 08 Mich Law Review on McCain Natural Born / Eligibility!!

Volume 107, No. 1 (September 2008) An Online Symposium on Senator John McCain and Natural Born Citizenship Senator John McCain, the current Republican Party nominee for President, was born in the Panama Canal Zone in 1936. The circumstances of his birth raise the question of whether he is a "natural born citizen" as required by Article II, section 1 of the Constitution. The symposium contributors explore both the substance of this issue and the methods used to resolve it.

Why Senator John McCain Cannot be President: Eleven Months and a Hundred Yards Short of Citizenship [HTML] [PDF] Gabriel J. Chin, University of Arizona Law School Article II, section 1 of the Constitution provides that “No Person except a natural born Citizen . . . shall be eligible to the Office of President . . . .” A person must be a citizen at birth to be a natural born citizen. Senator McCain was born in the Canal Zone in 1936. Although he is now a U.S. citizen, the law in effect in 1936 did not grant him citizenship at birth. Because he was not born a citizen, he is not eligible to the office of president.

Originalism and the Natural Born Citizen Clause [HTML] [PDF] Lawrence B. Solum, University of Illinois Law School The enigmatic phrase “natural born citizen” poses a series of problems for contemporary originalism. New Originalists, like Justice Scalia, focus on the original public meaning of the constitutional text. The notion of a “natural born citizen” was likely a term of art derived from the idea of a “natural born subject” in English law—a category that most likely did not extend to persons, like Senator McCain, who were born outside sovereign territory. But the Constitution speaks of “citizens” and not “subjects,” introducing uncertainties and ambiguities that might (or might not) make McCain eligible for the presidency.

The Justiciability of Eligibility: May Courts Decide Who Can Be President? [HTML] [PDF] Daniel P. Tokaji, The Ohio State University, Moritz College of Law The 2008 election cycle has been a busy one for legal disputes over the qualifications of presidential candidates, with federal cases having been filed to challenge both major candidates’ eligibility under the “natural born Citizen” clause. These cases unquestionably present vital questions of constitutional law, touching on matters of self-evident national importance. It is doubtful, however, that they are justiciable in lower federal courts. Standing requirements and the political question doctrine make it unlikely that a federal court will reach the merits in cases of the type filed to date.

McCain’s Citizenship and Constitutional Method [HTML] [PDF] Peter J. Spiro, Temple University Beasley School of Law Many things may obstruct John McCain’s path to the White House, but his citizenship status is not among them. The question of his eligibility, given the circumstances of his birth, has already been resolved. That outcome has been produced by actors outside the courts. . . . If non-judicial actors—including Congress, editorialists, leading members of the bar, and the People themselves—manage to generate a constitutional consensus, there isn’t much that the courts can do about it. In cases such as this one, at least, that seems to be an acceptable method of constitutional determination.

Why John McCain Was a Citizen at Birth [HTML] [PDF] Stephen E. Sachs Senator John McCain was born a citizen in 1936. Professor Gabriel J. Chin challenges this view in this Symposium, arguing that McCain’s birth in the Panama Canal Zone (while his father was stationed there by the Navy) fell into a loophole in the governing statute. The best historical evidence, however, suggests that this loophole is an illusion and that McCain is a “natural born Citizen” eligible to be president.

Spiro-—Spiro-—Spiro
PLEASE GO READ THE CONCLUSION TO HIS ARTICLE! HE KNEW SOMETHING WAS WRONG WITH OBAMMY!
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Here is an exerpt from the Spiro article. Note the use of the term ‘hyper-American’ when referencing the military post. It’s all one paragraph...sorry if its tough to read.

There are other permutations. Take, for starters, a twist on the birth circumstances of McCain’s opponent, Barack Obama. If Obama had been born in Nairobi instead of Honolulu—not at all implausible, given his family circumstances— would he be eligible for the presidency? Obama would have been born a U.S. citizen under section 301(g) of the Nationality Act, as the child of an alien and a citizen who was resident in the United States for a period of five years prior to the birth. (Democratic candidate Bill Richardson’s life suggests a similar counterfactual. His parents were living in Mexico City at the time of his mother’s pregnancy, and he spent his early years there, but his father sent his mother to California to deliver him with the intention of securing his citizenship.) The resolution of Obama’s case on those facts would be both more and less straightforward. On the one hand, the constitutional text would pose less of an obstacle; unlike McCain, Obama would have been born a citizen. On the other hand, his birth wouldn’t have been in the hyper-American context of an overseas American military installation, and the refusal to recognize Obama’s eligibility would not risk penalizing military personnel. On balance, Obama’s hypothetical case would probably come out the same way as McCain’s, even at a higher risk of campaign sloganeering (if only by way of highlighting Obama’s cosmopolitan roots). His life story—as with McCain’s, clearly “American” in any sense of the word—would sharply cut in favor of establishing eligibility. And with the McCain episode in the history books, the case for candidates born abroad as U.S. citizens to U.S. citizen parents would be more easily made, insofar as McCain has breached any putative territorial parameter.

“Who knew that the U of Michigan Law Review was published by a bunch of tinfoil-hatted nuts!”

AYE A VERY CENTRAL, HUGE POINT MADE!

YEAH AND WHY WASN’T THIS DONE FOR BAM-BAM?

Yes, we’d be told these are just s bunch of lefty and maybe righty tinfoil-hatted, pointy-headed (funny image though isn’t it) lawyer types feasting on the Tribe & Company SR511 deduction as an excuse for meeting in a nice place at a nice time of year there SO WHY PAY ATTENTION?? It only that some mid-western law students got a chance to get to a forum to see their latest favs. Now go sit down and SHUT UP!

Hope Michelle Malkin and others like her gets to see this.

I still haven’t gone through it unfortunately.

LOL!!! I am beyond baffled as to why there are such different reactions to questions about McCain’s status vs. that of Obama.

If McCain were the one paying teams of lawyers instead of simply releasing the basic documents (and release them he he did, promptly), the media would be in full hyper-hysteria mode. And McCain hasn’t even sealed many?/all? of the records for his entire life! Notice that the propagandists never mention that!

Well Dajjal- wanted to inform I went through your impressive comment / post list (impressive, yes- so many by the single word “obumpa” that were just SO MANY good threds that I can see)...
and did only come up with the two posts from the above organ, one of which I’ve cited in my original post. So I don’t feel too badly. Took me so long here because I kept clicking down so many refs off your “obumpa”s. Keep on!

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2112733/posts
The Justiciability of Eligibility: May Courts Decide Who Can Be President?
Wednesday, October 22, 2008 9:31:55 PM • 1 of 9
Dajjal

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2112732/posts
Originalism and the Natural Born Citizen Clause
Wednesday, October 22, 2008 9:31:49 PM • 1 of 8
Dajjal

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