Thanks for the ping. I’ve read through the entire thing. Lots of good research there, and a very clear statement of the case.
It leaves out some issues, of course, that are relevant to the case but not to this discussion, such as the fact that the on-line COLB is evidently a forgery. But it goes into the legal background in great and useful detail.
I am not entirely sure that the State of Hawaii would not have been willingly complicit with faking birth certificates at that time. A lot of Asian residents gained citizenship in that way, through the legal fiction that they were born in Hawaii when in fact it was known that they were not. Hawaii has its own peculiar history, and that appears to have affected their handling of birth records in some unusual ways. So I don’t think complicity or legal fiction can be ruled out, but the scenario given is perhaps equally likely.
Also, the article never raises the issue of relinquishment of American citizenship for Indonesian citizenship. But that, too, is not immediately germane to what is being discussed.
In other words, the case made here is not, and is not meant to be, complete, but it is very helpful on the legal record of what it means to be a natural born citizen.
At a minimum, I would encourage the author to fully investigate the facts surrounding how a newly-elected U.S. senator is issued a burgundy-colored passport identifying him/her as an official of the United States. We know that Obama had a blue, civilian passport and that that passport was replaced when he became a U.S. senator.
I’d like to know if he was simply issued a new passport for official travel or if he was required to provide documentary evidence to obtain the official passport. If he was required to provide documentation, what did he provide?
- The signed certificate from the Illinois Secretary of State indicating that he had been duly elected and was eligible to serve?
- A signed certificate from the U.S. senate upon being sworn in and seated as a senator?
We know the requirements for obtaining a civilian passport. We don’t believe the short-form Hawaiian COLB is sufficient to obtain a civilian passport. So we want to know if his civilian passport was from the U.S. or Indonesia.
What are the requirements for obtaining a U.S. official’s passport? Maybe I’ll just look that up. Now I’m really curious.