Posted on 01/05/2009 2:03:24 PM PST by autumnraine
Thank you for contacting me to share your concerns over President-elect Obama's citizenship. I appreciate hearing from you.
Article II, Section 1, Clause 5 of the United States Constitution states, "No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States." President-elect Obama demonstrated his citizenship during his campaign by circulating copies of his birth certificate, which showed he was born in Hawaii on August 4, 1961.
On December 8, 2008, the Supreme Court declined to hear a case filed by a New Jersey attorney, Mr. Donofrio, regarding President-elect Obama's citizenship. Unlike many of the lawsuits regarding President-elect Obama's citizenship, which claim he was really born on foreign soil, Mr. Donofrio's case concedes that President-elect Obama was born in Hawaii but contends he still held foreign citizenship at birth. Mr. Donofrio's lawsuit argues that since President-elect Obama's father was a Kenyan citizen and therefore subject to the jurisdiction of the United Kingdom at the time of President-elect Obama's birth, then Obama was a British citizen at birth and not eligible to be President of the United States.
Another attorney, Mr. Berg, has filed a lawsuit regarding President-elect Obama's citizenship and is waiting to hear whether the Supreme Court will take up the case or not. A federal judge in Eastern Pennsylvania threw out Mr. Berg's lawsuit in October, saying he lacked legal standing to bring the challenge since he could not show he faced individual harm even if he could prove his claims about President-elect Obama's citizenship. The judge did not get to the merits of the case. Mr. Berg is appealing the standing issue to the Supreme Court.
If a person is born in the United States, a certificate of live birth issued where one is born is sufficient proof of U.S. citizenship. The certificate, confirmed by the Hawaii Department of Health as authentic, shows that President-elect Obama was born in Hawaii.
If you would like to receive timely email alerts regarding the latest congressional actions and my weekly e-newsletter, please sign up via my web site at: www.chambliss.senate.gov . Please let me know whenever I may be of assistance.
THIS IS MY REPLY:
Thank you for responding to my email, but I take exception to that last paragraph.
"If a person is born in the United States, a certificate of live birth issued where one is born is sufficient proof of U.S. citizenship. The certificate, confirmed by the Hawaii Department of Health as authentic, shows that President-elect Obama was born in Hawaii. "
This is incorrect. Unfortunately, there have been alot of people who have taken this idea ran with it, making an assumption that they should not.
You are correct in stating that the Hawaii Dept of Health has acknowledged that they DO indeed hold A birth certificate for Obama. They DID not state that he was born there, as Hawaii has had a statute that allows a person to register a birth of a child born outside of the state as long as one parent shows they held a residence there within the past 12 months. No one is debating Mrs. Dunham-Obama's residence before or after Obama's birth.
Please see statute §338-17.8 Certificates for children born out of State. (a) Upon application of an adult or the legal parents of a minor child, the director of health shall issue a birth certificate for such adult or minor, provided that proof has been submitted to the director of health that the legal parents of such individual while living without the Territory or State of Hawaii had declared the Territory or State of Hawaii as their legal residence for at least one year immediately preceding the birth or adoption of such child. (b) Proof of legal residency shall be submitted to the director of health in any manner that the director shall deem appropriate. The director of health may also adopt any rules pursuant to chapter 91 that he or she may deem necessary or proper to prevent fraudulent applications for birth certificates and to require any further information or proof of events necessary for completion of a birth certificate.
Please see the following statement by Dr. CHIYOME FUKINO For Immediate Release: October 31, 2008 08-93
STATEMENT BY DR. CHIYOME FUKINO
"There have been numerous requests for Sen. Barack Hussein Obama’s official birth certificate. State law (Hawai'i Revised Statutes §338-18) prohibits the release of a certified birth certificate to persons who do not have a tangible interest in the vital record. "Therefore, I as Director of Health for the State of Hawai'i, along with the Registrar of Vital Statistics who has statutory authority to oversee and maintain these type of vital records, have personally seen and verified that the Hawai'i State Department of Health has Sen. Obama’s original birth certificate on record in accordance with state policies and procedures. "No state official, including Governor Linda Lingle, has ever instructed that this vital record be handled in a manner different from any other vital record in the possession of the State of Hawai'i.” ### For more information, contact: Janice Okubo Communications Office Phone: (808) 586-4442
Therefore stating there IS a birth certificate is NOT stating he was born in Hawaii. It's not like in Georgia where if there is a birth certificate in the archives for you, then it must mean you were born here.
I hope you continue to act on this matter and not leave the country feeling as our constitution does not matter. There at this point been NO agency that has officially verified Obama's certificate. I had to present one in order to drive in Georgia. I had to present my children's to enroll them in school. Can not the very least of this requirement be mandated for someone who will be in charge of our military and intellegence?
Thank you,
(Autumnraine)
Ping to LucyT and FreeAtlanta (since Free Atlanta is seemingly from Georgia and shares my interest in this topic)
Is this true?
He seems to refer to that internet faux certificate.
Every single one of these we get from FReepers who write are pretty much identical. I wonder if they all have a form letter they are using.
That’s what I thought. thanks.
Ignorance is bliss. The entire congress and the majority of the public could care less. I wrote all my congresscritters and got nothing. It is unbelievable that any person can be elected to the office of President of the United States and not even show what hospital he was born in!
Under the same statute that Obama has a cert registered in Hawaii so does Chinese leader Sun Yat Sen have a COLB registered in Hawaii. Was Sun Yat Sen then qualified to be a US President? I think not.
He has shown a ‘Certificate of Live Birth’, some are arguing it is a fake, others are arguing that it is not a valid Birth Certificate as Hawaii will issue that certificate for anyone born overseas. The COLB is a ‘short form’ birth certificate instead of the long form hospital certificate you are probably used to seeing.
Hawaii does recognize a COLB versus the long form birth certificate in court proceedings and for items such as passports (I used a similar ‘short form’ certificate from Arizona for getting my passport).
Because it doesn’t specifically state the place of birth, some are arguing it is not valid to confirm ‘natural born citizenship’ status as British Common law at the time of the framing of the Constitution required both parents be citizens and born on national soil to be ‘natural born’ by definition versus just citizen...
Thank you,
I basically got the same letter and posted it a few weeks ago. The punk’s (Saxby Chambliss) team messed mine up when they tried to send out a massive spam reply. All they macro language was in the email.
I really wish I hadn’t wasted my vote on him.
We are turning into a Banana Republic.
I can’t wait for the time when a bill crosses Senator Chambliss’s desk requesting funds for a monument at Obama’s place of birth — in Mombasa.
Thanks for the info!
What a craven coward Chambliss has turned out to be! After all the work conservatives did to help him win the runoff, this is the garbage he sends out. No shame whatsoever.
Wow, that is more than I got and I’m a constituent.
We had no choice but to waste our vote on him, and Isaakson is no better. We really need to get an actual conservative to challenge ole Johnny. He is worthless. I’ve gone round with his aides many times, they have outright lied to me.
IMO Every state needs a Sarah...an ordinary person who wants to make a difference and who is not in for the money.
Of course.
Frankly, even a form letter is excessively courteous. It is much better to simply ignore tinfoil hat nonsense.
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