Apuzzo ballot appeal accelerated ping...
IMO, for this appeal to work, they need to hammer home that the Wong Kim Ark decision affirmed and upheld the NBC definition in Minor; and that the Ankeny appeals decision also affirmed that Minor is the ONLY Supreme Court decision that provided a legal precedent for defining NBC. Their conclusion based on “guidance” from Wong Kim Ark fails because it’s not based on a legal precedent and becuase it ignores that Ark affirmed the NBC definition in Minor as being exclusive and discrete from 14th amendment citizenship. And further, they need to emphasize that there is no legally authenticated court evidence to prove Obama was even born in the United States. Jpgs, PDFs and news releases from the governor of Hawaii are NOT legally accepted forms of proof of birth or citizenship.
The Constitution requires that the President be “natural born”, which is defined as having been born in the US (later interpreted to also mean US territory such as a US military base), and where both parents are US citizens.
BHO, stated in his autobiography that his father was a citizen of Kenya, so he is not “natural born”.
As an aside, Marco Rubio’s parents were not citizens until after he as born (in the US), and so he is not “natural born” either.
Why this issue does not matter to conservatives is a puzzle to me.
The NJ Appeals Court has accelerated the ballot appeal, something they didn't have to do if they didn't see some merit in Apuzzo's brief. The timing could line up near the next Sheriff Arpaio presser. NJ is right next to the NYC MSM center, so coverage might actually occur.
Thank you, Seizethecarp.
You are reading too much into the expedited schedule. It just means the court recognizes it needs to be resolved quickly. Scheduling telephonic arguments most likely means they are going to blow off the petitioners. The court wants as little publicity for this case as possible.
Don’t be disappointed when the court ignores the constitution.
The court needs this original intent put forth to them, and then needs to give it the same significance that Thomas Jefferson's letter to the Danbury Baptist Association was given as original intent of the establishment clause. The court needs to understand that neither Jefferson nor Paine were Framers of the Constitution, yet Jefferson's 1802 letter was used to settle the establishment clause. Therefore, Paine's 1791 book should be used to settle the natural-born clause, too.
From The Rights of Man, The Rights Of Man, Chapter 4 — Of Constitutions:
If there is any government where prerogatives might with apparent safety be entrusted to any individual, it is in the federal government of America. The president of the United States of America is elected only for four years. He is not only responsible in the general sense of the word, but a particular mode is laid down in the constitution for trying him. He cannot be elected under thirty-five years of age; and he must be a native of the country.Yes, Paine did use the term "native of the country." Does this mean "native born" instead of "natural born?" We have to look at the following statements to answer that question.In a comparison of these cases with the Government of England, the difference when applied to the latter amounts to an absurdity. In England the person who exercises prerogative is often a foreigner; always half a foreigner, and always married to a foreigner. He is never in full natural or political connection with the country, is not responsible for anything, and becomes of age at eighteen years; yet such a person is permitted to form foreign alliances, without even the knowledge of the nation, and to make war and peace without its consent.
But this is not all. Though such a person cannot dispose of the government in the manner of a testator, he dictates the marriage connections, which, in effect, accomplish a great part of the same end. He cannot directly bequeath half the government to Prussia, but he can form a marriage partnership that will produce almost the same thing. Under such circumstances, it is happy for England that she is not situated on the Continent, or she might, like Holland, fall under the dictatorship of Prussia. Holland, by marriage, is as effectually governed by Prussia, as if the old tyranny of bequeathing the government had been the means.
The presidency in America (or, as it is sometimes called, the executive) is the only office from which a foreigner is excluded, and in England it is the only one to which he is admitted. A foreigner cannot be a member of Parliament, but he may be what is called a king. If there is any reason for excluding foreigners, it ought to be from those offices where mischief can most be acted, and where, by uniting every bias of interest and attachment, the trust is best secured. But as nations proceed in the great business of forming constitutions, they will examine with more precision into the nature and business of that department which is called the executive. What the legislative and judicial departments are every one can see; but with respect to what, in Europe, is called the executive, as distinct from those two, it is either a political superfluity or a chaos of unknown things.
Paine refers to Engish examples in order to define this. Paine cites "foreigner" and "half a foreigner" as the oppposite to "full natural" connection to the country. So, what is "half a foreigner?"
It seems to me that "half a foreigner" is a person with one parent who is a citizen and one parent who is not. This person does not have have a "full natural... connection with the country."
Paine wrote plainly of why the Framers did not want "half-foreigners" to be president, and why only people with a "full natural... connection with the country" were allowed to become President.
Paine was widely recognized as the most influential writer of the time of Independence because of his plain writing style that resonated with the common person.
Paine's description of the meaning of Article II was written in 1791, and I take it to be reflective of the common understanding of the time. This was, after all, written just two years after the ratification of the Constitution. If Paine said that natural born citizens meant both parents were citizens, then that was the plain meaning.
-PJ