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Mark R. Levin: Dual Citizenship is Citizenship by Statute, Not 14th Amendment Citizenship
ConstitutionallySpeaking ^ | April 7, 2010 | Linda Melin

Posted on 04/07/2011 12:46:23 PM PDT by patlin

UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION

ARTICLE II

Sec 5 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.

Nearly a year ago now, Mark R. Levin with all his constitutional expertise stated the dual citizenship is not 14th Amendment citizenship. Rather it is citizenship by statute. If so, the how cone he is ignoring Article II qualifications and promoting Bobby Jindal for president, knowing that Jindal was born a citizen of India? Would that not make Jindal a citizen by statute, not by nature? Also, he recently has been promoting Marco Rubio. I like Marco, but do we know for a fact that his parents were naturalized citizens at the time of Marco's birth?

[audio http://constitutionallyspeaking.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/levin-on-14th-amend-dual-citizenship-8-13-20102.mp3]

Caller: Yes, how does dual citizenship work? How can person have dual alliances for example…… let’s say we got into a war with say Israel

Mark: hahahahaha

Caller: You know what I am saying

Mark: yeah, yeah, the jews, we gotta watch out for them

Caller: No, no, it could be that….

Mark: Let me explain something to you. In terms of dual citizenship, that is done statutorily, you understand? In other words, Congress determines, us, the nature of dual citizenship, what qualifies for dual citizenship and so forth; which is why it is so absurd to argue that 14th Amendment by itself confers citizenship on illegal aliens

Caller: Well, that’s a good point, that’s a very good point. I understand

Mark: Well, it’s the truth, it’s not even, yeah

Caller: No, no, I understand ya, I’m not arguing with ya, I listen to you to learn

Mark: Alright my friend, thank you, you’re a good man, thank you…I’m no fan of dual citizenship either, I’ll be perfectly honest with you

Yello! Yello! Could someone get Mark on the phone & ask him to explain this to us please?


TOPICS: Government; History; Politics
KEYWORDS: 14thamendment; constitution; dualcitizenship; levin; marklevin; naturalborncitizen; teaparty
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To: Cheburashka; DallasDeb

And it can get even more complicated.

For example, I was born in a S. American country to two US citizens.

Not only am I considered a citizen of that country, but so is my wife and children who have never been to the country where I was born.

According to that nation’s law, my grandchildren and their grandchildren would be considered citizens.

And that is why other nation’s citizenship laws have no bearing on US citizenship.


61 posted on 04/07/2011 4:53:11 PM PDT by trumandogz
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To: GGMac

Sorry, but the courts and history override your temper tantrum. Natural born is a simple definition and there is not superior greade of citizen.

Your desire to oust Obama is like all other emotional demands, it ruins something just to try to have your way this once.

You have a perfectly good opportunity to prove Obama isn’t even a citizen by showing he wasn’t even born here, but you want the lazy way out by trying to redefine what a natural born citizen is because you think that would be easier. Well, it isn’t easier, and it degrades and insults all of us nautral born citizens.

Both the 14th Amendment and the resulting federal law state clearly what it takes to be a citizen, and you just can’t try to go and redefine it to go after someone you don’t like.


62 posted on 04/07/2011 5:13:59 PM PDT by CodeToad (Islam needs to be banned in the US and treated as a criminal enterprise.)
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To: Elle Bee

“In other words, Mommy and Daddy had to be a U.S. citizen at the time of birth in the United States. “

They are your words, no one elses.


63 posted on 04/07/2011 5:21:04 PM PDT by CodeToad (Islam needs to be banned in the US and treated as a criminal enterprise.)
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To: patlin

Yes she was and my post indicated Levin may not be aware of that.

Sooohhh, your point?


64 posted on 04/07/2011 7:05:21 PM PDT by Vendome ("Don't take life so seriously... You'll never live through it anyway")
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To: CodeToad; patlin
United States Code, Title 8, Section 1401 states:
Ah, another one.
Read this and get back to me...
You do realize that Title 8 governs ALIENS AND NATIONALITY, don't you? (the premier word being "ALIEN")
There are a couple of other pertinent replies so you might want to read down a little before responding.
65 posted on 04/07/2011 11:35:14 PM PDT by philman_36 (Pride breakfasted with plenty, dined with poverty, and supped with infamy. Benjamin Franklin)
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To: CodeToad
What an intellectually lazy bum you are.

The Congress shall have Power To... ...establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization...

Will you eat those words when you can't explain how Congress overstepped it's Constitutional powers if Title 8 covers something other than naturalization?

66 posted on 04/07/2011 11:39:10 PM PDT by philman_36 (Pride breakfasted with plenty, dined with poverty, and supped with infamy. Benjamin Franklin)
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To: trumandogz

Only if Romney’s parents were Mongolian and their laws conferred citizenship automatically on their children. Any more dumbass questions?


67 posted on 04/07/2011 11:39:20 PM PDT by EDINVA
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To: EDINVA
“Only if Romney’s parents were Mongolian and their laws conferred citizenship automatically on their children. Any more dumbass questions?”

Speaking of Mitt Romney.

Mitt Romney's father was born in Mexico and Mexican law specifies that all persons born in Mexico are citizens of Mexico.

In addition, Mexican law specifies that all children of Mexican citizens born outside of Mexico are Mexican citizens.

Is it your view that Romney cannot be president do to the fact that Mexico recognizes him as a citizen?

68 posted on 04/07/2011 11:52:16 PM PDT by trumandogz
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To: trumandogz

You are comparing apples to oranges, as usual.

Romney’s father was an American citizen. If by virtue of his being born in Mexico and that government’s conferring its citizenship upon him, it does not remove his American citizenship. It could be argued that Romney’s father was a dual citizen, but an American citizen nonetheless. The same can not be said of Barack Heussein Obama, Sr., who never enjoyed one moment of US citizenship.


69 posted on 04/08/2011 12:07:38 AM PDT by EDINVA
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To: EDINVA; DallasDeb

A poster earlier in the thread wrote:

“I wonder if any recalls in all the birth certificate debates whether Kenya recognizes Obama as a citizen. If it does, then he shouldn’t be president.”

My argument was that there are many Americans, myself as well as my wife and children included, who are recognized by other nations as citizens of their nation.

Kenya may recognize Obama

Mexico may recognize Romney

The country where I was born not only recognizes me as a citizen, but also my wife and children who have never been to that country.

Now, simply because another country may recognize us as citizens of their nation, that factor has no bearing whatsoever on our status as U.S. citizens.


70 posted on 04/08/2011 1:17:28 AM PDT by trumandogz
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To: All
Please comment on the legalities - thank you for taking the time to read this - I urge you to read and comment.

Hence, the Chester Arthur example is not and cannot be treated as any precedent since the nation was not aware of the truth about his father’s and mother’s non-U.S. citizenship status at the time of his birth.

Interesting, since it appears that the question of applicability of precedent would become the focus when the Natural-born issue is finally acknowledged for a week in the media, and I believe at some point it will be. From a practical standpoint, if this issue makes reelection probabilities dire enough, centrist Dems would attempt to primary nobama out, which would perhaps be the smartest thing for them to do, as the D party could move to the center and the R would have to move more solidly to the right. Except who would the D's select (besides the thoroughly worn-out clintonistas) ? Well, whatever, my real points for comment follow.

Well, I found a reference to a SCOTUS case from 1874 that referred to "natural-born". The link to Justia.com follows the relevant snippet from this women's suffrage case, "MINOR V. HAPPERSETT, 88 U. S. 162 (1874)",

"The Constitution does not in words say who shall be natural-born citizens. Resort must be had elsewhere to ascertain that. At common law, with the nomenclature of which the framers of the Constitution were familiar, it was never doubted that all children born in a country of parents who were its citizens became themselves, upon their birth, citizens also. These were natives or natural-born citizens, as distinguished from aliens or foreigners. Some authorities go further and include as citizens children born within the jurisdiction without reference to the citizenship of their parents. As to this class there have been doubts, but never as to the first. For the purposes of this case, it is not necessary to solve these doubts."

http://supreme.justia.com/us/88/162/case.html

The text I cite above appears to be quite telling in the logic of the actors of today.

If this ruling were the latest precedential ruling, it would make sense then, that the man elected in 2008 and his true backers, whoever they may be, are exerting such tremendous effort to establish the newly-minted State of Hawaii as his birthplace. That birthplace enables him to claim "natural-born" based on being in the second classification of children in the cited reference, those born within the jurisdiction without reference to the citizenship of their parents. Absent that birthplace fact, he would fail the meaning of "natural-born" cited within this opinion on both counts, as the father he claims is acknowledged to not be a U.S. citizen.

Please comment; I very much look forward to more case research and opinions regarding the precedents of this case. Please keep them research-oriented; are there any legal scholars or "lay" people out there who can do some digging ?

If this holds water, then perhaps this is the case that needs to be presented, "Occam" style.

I am not sure of Mr. Trump's true aims, so I try to write in an unbiased tone regarding his efforts which, so far, appear to have certain commonality with most Americans, however I caution that his overall vision may be less than ideal, as indicated by some simplistic protectionist bandages that he has advocated. In his defense, I would like to remind that the amount of his assets affected by slumping Real Estate may be motivating his desire to see the nation restored.
71 posted on 04/08/2011 2:37:21 AM PDT by PieterCasparzen (Huguenot)
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To: PieterCasparzen

Regarding my prior post:

It appears that there has been no ruling overturning or affecting Minor v. Happersett as an opinion, though the 19th Amendment granted suffrage to women, which was the subject of the case. So the precedent apparently would be that of this case ?

Also, if this indeed is the rub, then it would appear that the man who wound up winning the election of 2008 had simply gained too much traction before it was discovered within the Democratic party that he was ineligible. That would explain the extraordinary facts surrounding how the Democratic party certified him in the various States and the last-minute secret wrangling of Democratic party leadership, i.e., Pelosi & co. in final certification. I had come across these claims on the internet but I always took them with a grain of salt and simply “filed them away”. I guess until now. Now this makes sense. It was a while until it was pointed out to leadership that there was an issue. Then it took a while to research and figure out what approach was to be taken.

Regarding Chester Arthur, I think nobama’s father’s non-citizenship was known fairly early on. Perhaps the Chester Arthur handling would or could be applied. I also submit that since nobama was sworn in, and is holding the office, any actions while in office are those of a sitting President. However, the whole idea of people knowing he was ineligible would and should result in many criminal prosecutions, including that of nobama if he knew before he was elected. No doubt if he stepped down he would pardon himself beforehand - is that possible ? I don’t know, but Pelosi and any others who knew - they seem like the really need pardons or they will be wide open to prosecution.

Mostly, if this came out, it would reflect terribly on the Democratic party for not vetting. Finding out after it’s too late and trying to avoid some “Constitutional crisis” is one thing, but knowing before the election and not going public - which would have, of course, ensured a clintonista win - that would look very bad.

IMHO.


72 posted on 04/08/2011 3:19:40 AM PDT by PieterCasparzen (Huguenot)
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To: philman_36
You do realize that Title 8 governs ALIENS AND NATIONALITY, don't you? (the premier word being "ALIEN")

I HAVE been saying this for 2 years! The 1965 Nationality Act changed only 1 thing, the demographic of the numbers of immigrants allowed from foreign countries.

That act has provisions for "ALIENS BORN WITHIN" the United States. When a child is born it am alien in the United States, the Act says that it will be "CHARGED" to the number of immigrants allowed from the country of the parents. The child is born an ALIEN. If he/she was born an American, there would be no charge placed against the country of the parents.

And don't let someone tell you it pertains to diplomats, those children born in the country never were never entered into our system.

So, in 1965, how can a child born on US soil to parents who were NOT diplomats be considered an alien?

73 posted on 04/08/2011 6:08:32 AM PDT by patlin (Reagan was a Democrat before he was a Republican: "I didn't leave the Democrat Party, they left me")
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To: trumandogz

“The country where I was born not only recognizes me as a citizen, but also my wife and children who have never been to that country.

Now, simply because another country may recognize us as citizens of their nation, that factor has no bearing whatsoever on our status as U.S. citizens.”

On your status as “US citizens”, no. No bearing whatsoever.

But, let me pose a couple questions. If you were born of American parents in, say Argentina for example, and Argentina recognized you as a citizen because you were born there (as an anchor baby), would you not at that time be born a dual citizen - of Argentina and the US? A dual citizen subject to the jurisdiction of both Argentina (your place of birth) and the US (through the citizenship of your parents)?

Based on your theory, I think you think you would still be considered a natural born Citizen. Let’s then say you were elected President of the US and and we found ourselves at odds with Argentina. Let’s say you went to visit Argentina to negotiate a treaty with them. Could Argentina legally have you arrested because they consider you one of their citizens (let’s ignore the political consequences for this exercise), try you for treason and then execute you?

Interested in hearing your thoughts.


74 posted on 04/08/2011 6:18:09 AM PDT by Larry - Moe and Curly (Loose lips sink ships.)
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To: frogjerk
"Obama’s father was NEVER a US citizen at anytime prior or after Obama’s birth. Barak Hussein Obama is not a Natural Born Citizen and is ineligible to be President of the United States as per Article II of the United States Constitution by the plain meaning of the term as understood by the Framers when the document was written."

You are correct. The proof is the fact that the Framers changed Article II from "born a Citizen" to "natural born Citizen" after John Jay's letter to General Washington warning of foreign influence.

75 posted on 04/08/2011 6:20:43 AM PDT by Godebert
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To: DallasDeb
-- I wonder if any recalls in all the birth certificate debates whether Kenya recognizes Obama as a citizen. If it does, then he shouldn't be president. --

By his own admission, he was claimed by Great Britain until he reached the age of majority. I believe Obama still has the right to obtain official UK citizenship, as it is his birthright.

76 posted on 04/08/2011 6:23:37 AM PDT by Cboldt
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To: trumandogz
"Not sure how much you keep up with current events, but in 1868 we passed the 14th Amendment."

Where does the 14th Amendment even mention the term 'natural born Citizen' ? It doesn't.

The intent of the Founding Fathers is clear:

Is Being a Born Citizen of the United States of Sufficient Citizenship Status to be President of the United States and Commander in Chief of Our Military? The Founders and Framers Emphatically Decided It Was Not!

77 posted on 04/08/2011 6:29:25 AM PDT by Godebert
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To: Larry - Moe and Curly

In order to enter the country where I was born, I must carry that country’s passport. Therefore, I have two passports. However, when I re-enter the US I must use my US Passport.

Other than that and living there until I was seven, I have no connection with that country except that I have gone there for work a few times.

I was going to go there for work when I was around 25 but my company legal department pulled me from the trip as there was a chance I would be conscripted upon my arrival.

And when I am there, I am subject to their laws and the State Dept may have difficulty getting me out of a jam.

But then my kids, who have never been there are also considered citizens as will their children and so on.

The bottom line is that the nationality laws of other nations have no bearing on US law or citizenship status.

Otherwise, other nations could control who becomes and cannot become the US president.


78 posted on 04/08/2011 6:42:09 AM PDT by trumandogz
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To: philman_36
So, in 1965, how can a child born on US soil to parents who were NOT diplomats be considered an alien American when their birth is charged against a foreign country?
79 posted on 04/08/2011 6:42:39 AM PDT by patlin (Reagan was a Democrat before he was a Republican: "I didn't leave the Democrat Party, they left me")
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To: EDINVA
-- Romney's father was an American citizen. If by virtue of his being born in Mexico and that government's conferring its citizenship upon him, it does not remove his American citizenship. --

A naturalized US citizen renounces all other allegiance. Mexico may claim him, but the individual's later decision is controlling.

"Natural Born Citizen" is a question of fact that aims to limit the pool of individuals eligible to the obtain the office of president, by probing the "accident" of birth. That Congress accepts a dual citizen at birth (again, naturalized citizens are often MORE patriotic that those raised by citizen parents) as meeting the constitutional eligibility qualification is a travesty.

80 posted on 04/08/2011 6:46:59 AM PDT by Cboldt
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