Posted on 08/21/2008 5:00:24 PM PDT by LdSentinal
A prominent Philadelphia attorney and Hillary Clinton supporter filed suit this afternoon in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania against Illinois Sen. Barack Obama and the Democratic National Committee. The action seeks an injunction preventing the senator from continuing his candidacy and a court order enjoining the DNC from nominating him next week, all on grounds that Sen. Obama is constitutionally ineligible to run for and hold the office of President of the United States.
Phillip Berg, the filing attorney, is a former gubernatorial and senatorial candidate, former chair of the Democratic Party in Montgomery (PA) County, former member of the Democratic State Committee, and former Deputy Attorney General of Pennsylvania. According to Berg, he filed the suit--just days before the DNC is to hold its nominating convention in Denver--for the health of the Democratic Party.
"I filed this action at this time," Berg stated, "to avoid the obvious problems that will occur when the Republican Party raises these issues after Obama is nominated.".
Berg cited a number of unanswered questions regarding the Illinois senator's background, and in today's lawsuit maintained that Sen. Obama is not a naturalized U.S. citizen or that, if he ever was, he lost his citizenship when he was adopted in Indonesia. Berg also cites what he calls "dual loyalties" due to his citizenship and ties with Kenya and Indonesia.
Even if Sen. Obama can prove his U.S. citizenship, Berg stated, citing the senator's use of a birth certificate from the state of Hawaii verified as a forgery by three independent document forensic experts, the issue of "multi-citizenship with responsibilities owed to and allegiance to other countries" remains on the table.
In the lawsuit, Berg states that Sen. Obama was born in Kenya, and not in Hawaii as the senator maintains. Before giving birth, according to the lawsuit, Obama's mother traveled to Kenya with his father but was prevented from flying back to Hawaii because of the late stage of her pregnancy, "apparently a normal restriction to avoid births during a flight." As Sen. Obama's own paternal grandmother, half-brother and half-sister have also claimed, Berg maintains that Stanley Ann Dunham--Obama's mother--gave birth to little Barack in Kenya and subsequently flew to Hawaii to register the birth.
Berg cites inconsistent accounts of Sen. Obama's birth, including reports that he was born at two separate hospitals--Kapiolani Hospital and Queens Hospital--in Honolulu, as well a profound lack of birthing records for Stanley Ann Dunham, though simple "registry of birth" records for Barack Obama are available in a Hawaiian public records office.
Should Sen. Obama truly have been born in Kenya, Berg writes, the laws on the books at the time of his birth hold that U.S. citizenship may only pass to a child born overseas to a U.S. citizen parent and non-citizen parent if the former was at least 19 years of age. Sen. Obama's mother was only 18 at the time. Therefore, because U.S. citizenship could not legally be passed on to him, Obama could not be registered as a "natural born" citizen and would therefore be ineligible to seek the presidency pursuant to Article II, Section 1 of the United States Constitution.
Moreover, even if Sen. Obama could have somehow been deemed "natural born," that citizenship was lost in or around 1967 when he and his mother took up residency in Indonesia, where Stanley Ann Dunham married Lolo Soetoro, an Indonesian citizen. Berg also states that he possesses copies of Sen. Obama's registration to Fransiskus Assisi School In Jakarta, Indonesia which clearly show that he was registered under the name "Barry Soetoro" and his citizenship listed as Indonesian.
The Hawaiian birth certificate, Berg says, is a forgery. In the suit, the attorney states that the birth certificate on record is a forgery, has been identified as such by three independent document forensic experts, and actually belonged to Maya Kasandra Soetoro, Sen. Obama's half-sister.
"Voters donated money, goods and services to elect a nominee and were defrauded by Sen. Obama's lies and obfuscations," Berg stated. "If the DNC officers ... had performed one ounce of due diligence we would not find ourselves in this emergency predicament, one week away from making a person the nominee who has lost their citizenship as a child and failed to even perform the basic steps of regaining citizenship as prescribed by constitutional laws."
"It is unfair to the country," he continued, "for candidates of either party to become the nominee when there is any question of the ability to serve if elected."
Who exactly is the plaintiff in this suit? If it is Berg, it stands a good chance of being dismissed at the outset for lack of standing. If it is HRC herself, it might not be.
Sure, but only in that very specific sense. That's why I said we don't have a TRULY national election in the United States. We vote in elections organized and run by the individual States, largely under their own rules.
We don't even vote for President "nationally", we vote State by State for electors, who then vote as directed by the State at another election held in December.
This is the election where the President is elected. It is maybe the only "national" election we have, and the voters are a very specific, small group.
The grammatical reading of the word “citizens” in the passage you cite means that it refers to children of all US citizens, not that both parents must be US citizens.
Sorry, but you are incorrect. The phrase mentioned in the Constitution is "natural born Citizen." (Article II, Section 1, fifth paragraph)
It seems to me the Freepers did not file the lawsuit.
You are correct.
Phillip Berg, the filing attorney, is a former gubernatorial and senatorial candidate, former chair of the Democratic Party in Montgomery (PA) County, former member of the Democratic State Committee, and former Deputy Attorney General of Pennsylvania. According to Berg, he filed the suit--just days before the DNC is to hold its nominating convention in Denver--for the health of the Democratic Party
If he was born in Honolulu, he's in the clear. In order to lose his citizenship, he would have had to renounce it himself after attaining the age of 18. His parents could not have renounced it for him. And Indonesian law, such as it is, is irrelevant.
He's a 911 truther. What are expecting? A case?
What about legal name and dual citizenship?
It will get interesting. I really suspect the powerbrokers will step in and scare hell out of the judge. However if the Judge is an independent type he may say, "No, I will hear the case".
What district would that court of appeals be in? Take it all the way to the Roberts Supreme Court? That might be really interesting :)
Crystal Cove, I’ve been looking at your posting history and you are all over Obama threads, asking questions and sounding very...............defensive.
Dual citizenship is no big deal. Lots of natural born American citizens have it.
As for the name, it's Barack Hussein Obama until somebody comes with a document showing it was legally changed. That Indonesian school registration doesn't count.
I do not know which district is involved. I have thought of two approaches which Obama could take. I do not know Pensylvania law, but how long does a defendant have to respond to a cause of action? They could wait until the last day which would probably get them 30 - 60 days down the road after the convention. By then it would be difficult form any other dem to offer credible possibility for election. OR they could hit it hard tomorrow and try to quash the complaint...if successful, its substance would never see the light of day. That would depend on the Judge and his attitude, politically, his feeling toward this type of complaint, his feelings toward the lawyer who brought the claim. The subjectivity available to the Judge and his response is almost without bounds. So, if he is proObama...he will kill it...or try to. This would require the complaintant to have documents ready to go to appeal to the Court of Appeals or to the Supremes. Gonna be interesting.
Well, the fact that it is filed by a left wing attorney, may help the judge examine the merits a little better. It will be very interesting regardless.
Yes, I agree. And the facat that the attorney is local and probably venue shopped, (at least in his mind) this very case. He probably knows the leanings of this judge and this court. He may be ‘best-buds’ with the Judge.
The problem is that Indonesia doesn’t recognize dual citizenship, so obtaining an Indonesian passport may require revocation of all other citizenships. And it appears he used it to travel internationally.
Yes, I noticed that; I think we have a sleeper troll — and I wonder about cynwoody.
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