Under US law, if someone is born a citizen by virtue of the US citizenship of their parent(s), *nothing* a citizen parent can do can changes that status, for example the child will remain a citizen even if the parents renounce their own citizenship, and they cannot renounce a child’s citizenship.
So there is no need for such a child to “recover” their citizenship, as they have never lost it.
You are quite right about that, but if Obama had taken some positive action to confirm that new citizenship after attaining his majority, such as applying for a passport, then a taint might have fallen over his citizenship. Given State Department rulings and actions in similar cases, Obama probably had nothing to worry about. But, this was a political issue and not a legal issue, and still is in my opinion.
“Under US law, if someone is born a citizen by virtue of the US citizenship of their parent(s), *nothing* a citizen parent can do can changes that status, for example the child will remain a citizen even if the parents renounce their own citizenship, and they cannot renounce a child’s citizenship.
So there is no need for such a child to “recover” their citizenship, as they have never lost it.”
Try telling that to the thousands of Amer-asians denied US citizenship in places like Japan, Korea,The Phillipines and Vietnam because their fathers were American servicemen.
The law is not as cut and dry as you think it is, in fact during the time Obama was born it was quite different than we have been lead to believe today.
Sven doesn’t agree with you and comments he’s posted before about the subject are very convincing and detailed.
This concept seems to be a 20th century invention. We know this because Justice Gray mused in the Wong Kim Ark decision that, "neither he nor his parents acting for him ever renounced his allegiance to the United States, or did or committed any act or thing to exclude him [p653] therefrom ..." It makes no sense for a Supreme Court judge to say this if "nothing" under the law could be done by the parents to change the status of their child's citizenship. Also, under the law at the time Obama would have become an Indonesian citizen, nothing prevented him from renouncing his own citizenship as a child.
Aside from this however, the real issue here is if Obama ever acted as an Indonesian citizen as an adult and if the knowledge that he did so and tried to cover it up would affect how people voted for president. Would he still get votes from people if they knew he was an Indonesian citizen and lied about it??