guys... I know it bites. But the truth is she was born in America, and like it or not, that makes her a US citizen.
Exactly.
No matter how folks want to interpret the Constitution, the Supreme Court would never disqualify a person that was born on US soil.
It’s a waste of time.
A citizen and a natural born Citizen are not the same. The only time a U.S. citizen could become president was at the adoption of the Constitution until years later a natural born Citizen at age 35 or older was eligible. If I’m not mistaken, Martin Van Buren was the first Natural Born Citizen president under Article 2 Section 1 Clause 5.
But NOT a Natural Born Citizen.
Words have meanings.
And like it or not, she was born a Jamaican citizen as well. Regardless of place of birth. She inherited her foreign father's foreign citizenship by birthright.
That make her, at best, a dual citizen at birth. That is precisely what the framers were concerned with. A commander in chief of the military who was born owing allegiance to a foreign power (king/queen particularly).
She was born owing allegiance to a foreign country.
This issue mattered greatly to our founders and the framers who penned our Constitution as well as the father of the 14th Amendment (see above post). It should matter to us as well. Original intent, and all that.
Dual NationalityDual nationals owe allegiance to both the United States and the foreign country. They are required to obey the laws of both countries, and either country has the right to enforce its laws. It is important to note the problems attendant to dual nationality. Claims of other countries upon U.S. dual-nationals often place them in situations where their obligations to one country are in conflict with the laws of the other. In addition, their dual nationality may hamper efforts of the U.S. Government to provide consular protection to them when they are abroad, especially when they are in the country of their second nationality.
The concept of dual citizenship recognizes that a person may have and exercise rights of nationality in two countries and be subject to the responsibilities of both.
June 18, 1787 - Alexander Hamilton suggests that the requirement be added, as: "No person shall be eligible to the office of President of the United States unless he be now a Citizen of one of the States, or hereafter be born a Citizen of the United States." Works of Alexander Hamilton (page 407).
June 27 1787. IN CONVENTION (Vattel's legal work is read aloud during the Federal Convention) "...that an equal vote in each State was essential to the federal idea, and was founded in justice & freedom, not merely in policy: that tho' the States may give up this right of sovereignty, yet they had not, and ought not:In order to prove that individuals in a State of nature are equally free & independent he [Luther Martin] read passages from Locke, Vattel, Lord Summers -- Priestly. To prove that the case is the same with States till they surrender their equal sovereignty, he [L.M.] read other passages in Locke & Vattel, and also Rutherford:" From Madison's Notes on the Convention.
Similar notes on Vattel being read during the convention can be found in the notes of Rufus King and Robert Yates as well.
July 25, 1787 (~5 weeks later) - John Jay writes a letter to General Washington (president of the Constitutional Convention): "Permit me to hint, whether it would be wise and seasonable to provide a strong check to the admission of Foreigners into the administration of our national Government; and to declare expressly that the Commander in Chief of the American army shall not be given to nor devolve on, any but a natural born Citizen." [the word born is underlined in Jay's letter which signifies the importance of allegiance from birth.]
http://rs6.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/hlaw:@field%28DOCID+@lit%28fr00379%29%29:September 2nd, 1787 George Washington pens a letter to John Jay. The last line reads: "I thank you for the hints contained in your letter"
https://books.google.com/books?id=vTBIAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA269&lpg=PA269#v=onepage&q&f=falseSeptember 4th, 1787 (~6 weeks after Jay's letter and just 2 days after Washington wrote back to Jay) - The "natural born Citizen" requirement is now found in their drafts. Madison's notes of the Convention
The proposal passed unanimously without debate.
The Founders could have easily written that the qualification for eligibility was to be a CITIZEN. But they wrote: "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;
So why didn't they just make the office eligible to citizens? Why did they go to the trouble to write "natural born Citizen"?
Clearly, being a "citizen" alone is not sufficient.
It’s not your fault, but they never taught you in school that to be eligible to the office of president or vice president you have to be a “natural born citizen” a VERY SPECIFIC thing, NOT JUST A CITIZEN!