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As for Barry Soetoro, according to what I read, he was an Indonesian citizen and a Muslim in Indonesia. In Indonesia, all other citizenships have to be renounced once you become a citizen. So even if he was a U.S. citizen and what I read is right (that he was an Indonesian citizen), he can't be a U.S. citizen from that alone. A parent cannot renounce the US citizenship of a child. And a child cannot renounce their own US citizenship, in most cases. The child would have to convince a US official that the renunciation was not coerced. Once the child turns 18, they can renounce it for themselves, or can commit one of a number of acts which would have the same effect.

That said, it's not just "citizenship" that is required to be eligible to the office of President. It's natural born citizenship. Since the only place in US law that matters is eligibility to the office of President, there is no case law, and no definition in the Constitution. The Courts will need to decide, but Barry can't be too confident of the outcome, otherwise he's throwing a bunch of money he could put to his 2012 campaign right down a legal rat hole, for nothing.

Since the only place in US law that matters is eligibility to the office of President, there is no case law

There is no case law determining the meaning of the term in the Constitution, apparently because that was deemed unnecessary, due to the meaning being evident in the writing.

But, there is at least one Supreme Court decision, providing an example of natural born citizenship itself being determined, Perkins v. Elg. Miss Elg was found to be a natural born citizen. She was born in a State of the United States, and she was born to two citizen parents, no matter what anyone claims. Derivative citizenship was the law, from 1907, so her mother was a naturalized citizen, as was her father.

And then, we have various dicta, from Minor v. Happersett, etcetera, which again confirms that the meaning was construed as evident in the writing, that two citizen parents and birth in the United States, were required.

Here’s what I’m going by (and I’ve seen this more than once about his Indonesian citizenship, used to attend school in Indonesia):

From http://www.stoptheaclu.com/2008/08/11/obamas-dual-citizenship-disaster/

“Soetoro is the name on Obama’s Birth Certificate (BC) because a new BC was issued when he was adopted by Lolo Soetoro, his step-father. His original BC, which we assume was issued for Barack Hussein Obama at birth, would have been sealed at the time of the adoption.

Barry Soetoro probably acquired Indonesian citizenship in approximately 1965-1966, and may still hold it. He possibly changed his legal name back to Barack Hussein Obama as an older child, teenager, or adult, possibly never did – but even if he did, this procedure would not result in a change to the BC. (If he never legally changed his name back, I imagine his current name on the Presidential ballot would be invalid.)

The Birth Certificate published by Obama on his campaign website (still there, by the way) and distributed to the media was forged because the real BC on file is in the name Soetoro, an identity he apparently wanted to hide from the American people. I am getting reports from different sources that Obama traveled to Pakistan in `81 with an Indonesian passport.

Prior to 2007, Indonesian law did not permit dual citizenship. Thus, if Obama actively kept his Indonesian citizenship, his US citizenship could be challenged. I suspect that Obama may have dumped his Indonesian citizenship at some point along the way, to advance his political career. But I would not be shocked if he still holds it. This question, however, should not overshadow the serious problem of hiding his Indonesian identity from the electorate….. What else is he hiding?”

So, you may be right an all of this is a moot point. I’m not a lawyer, but wish I were to take on this whole mess and set it straight.

Thanks for the email, El Gato!