Letter to State Senators and Representatives regarding a New Law on Presidential Eligibility

Art in Idaho | October 8, 2009 | Art in Idaho

[Art in Idaho]

Proposal of a Bill to become Law in the State of _________.

Summary: Any person that is running for the Office of President of the United States must present to the ______ State Election Commission and the Secretary of State proof that said person fulfills the Constitutional Requirements to be President.

Whereas, Article II, Section 1, Clause 5 of the Constitution states: "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. " This means that, in modern times, you cannot legally or legitimately serve as President of the United States, unless you are: . at least 35 years of age . a resident of the United States for at least 14 years . a natural born citizen. Since allegiance of the potential President and Commander-in-Chief was the main concern of the Founding Fathers, 'Natural Born Citizen' has been understood to mean meeting the following two requirements: . You must be born in the United States; “on US soil” and . Both of your parents must be U.S. citizens at the time of your birth.

Or as further elaborated on March 9, 1866, by Representative John Bingham of Ohio in a speech before The House of Representatives: "[I] find no fault with the introductory clause [S 61 Bill], which is simply declaratory of what is written in the Constitution, that every human being born within the jurisdiction of the United States of parents not owing allegiance to any foreign sovereignty is, in the language of your Constitution itself, a natural born citizen.”

Therefore, any candidate for President of the United States must present his/her Long Form Birth Certificate or a certified copy to The State Board of Elections and the Secretary of State for approval before said person will be on the Ballot in the State of ________. This is seen as certifying and satisfying a Constitutional requirement to run for the office of President of the United States of America.

This is meant as a rough template to put out there to All to review, add or delete comments, etc. I am not an attorney and would appreciate any feedback from such or paralegals. The jist of it is pretty straight forward, but how it would be presented as a bill to your state legislature is another thing. I ask all of you for your feedback to this template can be "prettied up" and presented with the best legalese so we can all present a final form letter to our State Senators and Representatives. As you know these things take time at the State level, but it's none too early to start.

Thanks for reviewing and your comments.

Art in Idaho

[Frantzie]

Good job. Let us know what they say. We have to get at least one state check in 2012 and beyond. This is insane.

[cripplecreek]

People should be asking themselves why congress has been so resistant to something like this. What possible reason could they have?

[trumandogz]

Good idea, but other vital records such as college transcripts and full medical records should also be released by the candidates.

[FrankR]

"People should be asking themselves why congress has been so resistant to something like this. What possible reason could they have? "

Maybe they're afraid it will provoke a retroactive investigation into the "lord and savior", obamallamadingdong.

Even the dems who are not nearly as far left as Zero know that as long as he is pres_ent there will be very little opposition to any and all of their liberal wants and desires...so they won't be interested in throwing him under the bus until:

1 - They get all the pork they want passed and signed, or;

2 - Zero's unpopularity makes them lose their individual seats in congress.

Dems - no matter what their degree of "dem-ness", have no problem throwing each other under the bus as soon as their usefulness expires...i.e. Rev. Wright, Grandma, etc. They stick together until the hammer falls on them, then they would turn on their own grandmother...wouldn't they obama?

[cc2k]

I have advocated this, and I have suggested it to my state representatives in Georgia before I moved this Summer. I will be bringing something similar to this to my State representative and State Senator here in Florida. Seems like this was introduced in Oklahoma back in January or February. I don’t remember what the outcome was.

My only suggestion would be to expand it to have adequate documentation required of any candidate for any federal office with constitutional requirements for age or citizenship. That way it doen’t sound like you are singling out anyone in particular. We really do need this for Senators and Representatives as well as for POTUS and VPOTUS.

This is a much better place to focus our efforts than trying to do anything about what happened in 2008.

---

From the desk of cc2k:

Legislative Proposal: Federalism tax credit Term Limits from the Grass Roots The Two Million Frog March (Why 9-12-2009 spells trouble for Republicans and Democrats alike)

[Art in Idaho]

My only suggestion would be to expand it to have adequate documentation required of any candidate for any federal office with constitutional requirements for age or citizenship.

Good comment. Thanks. Will include that in a revision.

[mlo]

I'm in favor of the effort, but you might want to remove the following:

"Since allegiance of the potential President and Commander-in-Chief was the main concern of the Founding Fathers, 'Natural Born Citizen' has been understood to mean meeting the following two requirements: . You must be born in the United States; “on US soil” and . Both of your parents must be U.S. citizens at the time of your birth."

This is not accurate. I realize many of you have convinced yourselves it is, but that doesn't make it so. If you leave it in it's going to scream "Birther" and may actually make the letter counter-productive.

All you need to say is that a candidate should submit documentation proving his eligibility for the office.

[Faith]

Well done. Thank you!!!

[An American!]

I agree...Eligibility should include items such as:
1. US Citizenship
2. Not having served as President already
3. Not a felon
etc etc
It is not just about birth certificate.

[mlo]

Well, the constitution doesn’t bar felons from being president either.

[Art in Idaho]

I'm in favor of the effort, but you might want to remove the following:

"Since allegiance of the potential President and Commander-in-Chief was the main concern of the Founding Fathers, 'Natural Born Citizen' has been understood to mean meeting the following two requirements: . You must be born in the United States; “on US soil” and . Both of your parents must be U.S. citizens at the time of your birth."

This is not accurate. I realize many of you have convinced yourselves it is, but that doesn't make it so. If you leave it in it's going to scream "Birther" and may actually make the letter counter-productive. All you need to say is that a candidate should submit documentation proving his eligibility for the office.

I think you are correct. Part of me wants to leave it in there, just to hammer the point, but if it's going to get passed as a Bill, I think it should be deleted. Thanks for the feedback.

[usurper]

"[I] find no fault with the introductory clause [S 61 Bill], which is simply declaratory of what is written in the Constitution, that every human being born within the jurisdiction of the United States of parents not owing allegiance to any foreign sovereignty is, in the language of your Constitution itself, a natural born citizen.”

I am no constitutional expert but I don’t think that is what it says particularly this part: “of parents not owing allegiance to any foreign sovereignty.”

I believe that the 14 amendment views anyone born in the US as automatically a citizen regardless of the parents status (with one exception for foreign diplomats stationed in the US).

There are two legal principals regarding citizenship that is not gained through naturalization. The first is jus sanguines witch is (the law of blood) which automatically confers full citizenship to anyone born to two US citizens anywhere in the world. The second is jus soli the (law of place) which automatically confers full citizenship on anyone born within the US. These principals have been around for a long time and there is a ton of legal president and jurisprudence which is based on them.

The Supreme Court has never defined the term “Natural Born” because the issue has never come up before. I suspect they would view anyone born in the US or anyone born to two US citizens as a natural born citizen.

Under jus sanguines (the law of blood) the citizenship of the parents is critical to conveying citizenship. Under is jus soli the (law of place) the nationality of the parents is completely irrelevant as we see today with illegal immigrants and their US citizen offspring.

[American Constitutionalist]

The same reason why after the 2000 election mess that they don’t want people to show their ID’s when going to the voting polls....

[American Constitutionalist]

The same reason why after the 2000 election mess that they don’t want people to show their ID’s when going to the voting polls....

[American Constitutionalist]

Sorry Mods for the double post...

[cripplecreek]

Michigan is a “must ask” state but you don’t have to show it. I proudly display mine before voting.

[exnavy]

Good Luck.

[exnavy]

Congress thinks the one world Gubmint will give them lots of money and power.

[Art in Idaho]

Interesting on jus sanguines and jus soli. The Supreme Court has never defined the term “Natural Born” because the issue has never come up before.I suspect they would view anyone born in the US or anyone born to two US citizens as a natural born citizen. Under jus sanguines (the law of blood) the citizenship of the parents is critical to conveying citizenship. Under is jus soli the (law of place) the nationality of the parents is completely irrelevant as we see today with illegal immigrants and their US citizen offspring.

Then they need to rule on it and get this resolved. The anchor baby thing is a whole separate issue that I think needs to be reexamined. If Ahmadinijead's wife is pregnant, he flies her over here, the baby is born on US soil, he/she could be President? That's insane. So either way you look at it, I think SCOTUS needs to step up the the plate. .