Facts are stubborn things: Obama is a natural-born citizen

Renew America ^ | 2009-12-23 | Jamie Freeze

[rabscuttle385]

I never will forget meeting former North Carolina State Senator Hugh Webster my senior year of high school. He came to my school and had lunch with the seniors. As he sat down beside me, I asked him to tell me what he most loved and hated about being in Raleigh. I don't remember what he most loved, but I'll never forget what he most hated. In the words of Mr. Webster, "I don't deal well with incompetent people."

At that point, I knew Mr. Webster and I were kindred spirits. I too don't deal well with incompetent people. As a matter of fact, I go out of my way to avoid them, but when dealing with them is inevitable, I can't help but point out their incompetencies. As a law student, I am being trained to be meticulous, well-reasoned, and intelligent. After my final exam grades come back, we'll see how well I'm doing. But that aside, I feel that I have been too longsuffering in letting the Birther Movement receive simply a few caustic remarks and jabs from me. It's time for me to call a spade a spade. Here goes: If you believe that President Obama is NOT a natural-born citizen, then you are an incompetent idiot who is probably watching Glenn Beck while wearing a tin-foil hat. You probably think Obama's a Muslim too.

If you are still reading (and not firing off angry emails), then allow me to offer you factual proof that Obama is a natural-born citizen who satisfies the constitutional requirements for Commander-in-Chief. My argument is two-fold: 1. Obama was born in Hawaii (a U.S. state for my incompetent readers). 2. Obama satisfies the requirements found in the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, which defines natural-born citizens.

1. Obama was born in Hawaii. Hawaii joined the Union in 1959. Barack Obama was born in 1961. Do the math. It works. Ok, so perhaps that argument is a bit over-simplified, but that is because I find the birth certificate question so ridiculous. The President released his birth certificate (which was verified by the Hawaii Health Department) yet conspiracy theorists refuse to see logic. "Big bad Obama must be hiding something. That certificate isn't the long form. What's he hiding?" What the naysayers fail to realize is that in 1961 the standard Hawaiian birth certificate was...wait for it...exactly the same length as Obama's! The Hawaiian Health Department has said this, but as conspiracy theorists point out, they must be covering for Obama. Despite the facts, folks say that even if he was born in Hawaii, he is not a natural born citizen because his father was Kenyan. However, even if Obama was born on the moon, he would still be a natural born citizen under the Immigration and Nationality Act.

2. Obama is a natural born citizen. In Scales v. INS, 232 F.3d 1159 (2000), we have a clear definition of what natural born citizenship is. Scales' father was an American serviceman stationed in the Philippines where he met Scales' mother. They married despite the fact that Scales' mother was pregnant with him at the time. In all probability, the court said, Scales was a product of his mother's previous relationship. However, he was born after Mr. Scales married his mother, and he was treated as Scales' son. Later, Scales was facing deportation because of an aggravated felony involving drugs. He challenged his deportation saying he was a natural born citizen. The court determined that natural born citizenship depends on the statute in effect at the time of the child's birth. Since Scales was born in 1977, he was a natural born citizen because a "person shall be a national and citizen of the United States at birth who is born outside the geographical limits of the United States and its outlying possessions of parents one of whom is an alien, and the other a citizen of the United States who, prior to the birth of such person, was physically present in the United States or its outlying possessions for a period or periods totaling not less than ten years, at least five of which were after attaining the age of fourteen years." Id. at 1169; see 8 U.S.C. §1401(a)(7) (1976). Therefore, Scales was a natural born citizen despite the following: having been born in a foreign country, having been born to a non-citizen, having his American father later deny paternity (and prove non-paternity), and having claimed to be a citizen of the Philippines. Sounds like it is difficult to get rid of natural born citizenship. Let's examine Barack Obama's citizenship.

Obama's citizenship will be determined under the 1952 version of the Immigration and Nationality Act since he was born in 1961 and the Act wasn't updated again until 1966. According to § 301(a)(5) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (66 Stat. 235), "a person born in an outlying possession of the United States of parents one of whom is a citizen of the United States who has been physically present in the United States or one of its outlying possessions for a continuous period of one year at any time prior to the birth of such person [is a natural born citizen]." According to § 305 of the same statute, any person born in Hawaii on or after April 30, 1900 was to be considered a natural born citizen. Obama's mother was a citizen of the United States, and his father was a citizen of Kenya. They were married six months before Obama was born. There is no doubt that Obama's mother resided in the United States or its possessions for at least one year prior to Obama's birth. Therefore, Obama can't be anything other than a natural born citizen. Combine this detail with his birth in an American State, you have a certified natural born citizen.

Facts are stubborn things. They refuse to go away just because people disagree with them or wish they'd go away. The Birther Movement is a stubborn thing too. It refuses to go away even when proven wrong. It is appalling that the myth of Obama's non-citizenship is allowed to flourish given that a simple search in LexisNexis of "natural born citizen" pulled up all of the relevant case law and statutes. You don't even have to be a lawyer to understand it! However, I learned a long time ago that most people are sheep — they'd rather regurgitate something they've heard rather than doing their own research. And the old adage is true: if you say something often enough, people will believe it. For once let's say the truth often enough and hope people believe it. Let's forget about conspiracy theories and focus on the real issue: Obama's policies. After all, I don't deal well with incompetent people.

© Jamie Freeze

[olezip]

2. Obama is a natural born citizen. In Scales v. INS, 232 F.3d 1159 (2000), we have a clear definition of what natural born citizenship is. Scales' father was an American serviceman stationed in the Philippines where he met Scales' mother.

First I question whether this precedent is applicable to Obama's case. The definition of "natural born" citizen is in the Constitution only for the President of the United States. The writer seems to be confusing citizenship with natural born citizen definitions.

Second, we have no confirmation of who Obama's father is on his birth certificate. We have heard that Obama's mother was single at the time of his birth. We have heard other paternity possibilities. We know that the requirements for obtaining a COLB were loose at the time; a close relative could have applied for and obtained one. Few people know what is on President Obama's long form birth certificate.

Asserting that Obama is a natural born citizen does not make it so, does it? There are too many loose ends to this story. IMO the writer is guilty of incomplete staff work, a common mistake.

[CodeToad]

“IF Obama’s Father is BRITISH CITIZEN Obama Senior, then Obama is not NBC under ANY law whether he was born in the USofA or Canada or Kenya”

That is not true. Where did you get that crap?

[CodeToad]

“The President released his birth certificate (which was verified by the Hawaii Health Department)”

Not to mention, he never did and they never have.

[hennie pennie]

Everybody seems to claim that on ALL of the "certifigate" birth certificate messagethreads.

Haven't you read any of them, there must be hundreds upon hundreds of postings stating just that.

In fact, since Bobby Jindal's parents were NOT U.S. Citizens, but rather foreign students attending college in American, many posters have claimed that Governor Bobby Jindal is NOT a natural born citizen, because of his parents' status --- and therefore he is also ineligible to become the prez.

[betty boop]

Seems to me at best, BHO would be native-born — assuming he was in fact born in Hawaii (which he has so far not proved). My understanding is that he cannot be a "natural-born citizen of the United States," for a very simple reason: He was born to a British citizen father.

This Jamie Freeze person doesn't seem to take BHO's British paternity into consideration.

[Frenchtown Dan]

You don’t know anything more than what you’ve read on moveon.org.

I’m not even sure if zero knows what nationality he is.
If he’s a bonafide citizen of the U.S. why doesn’t he just publicly prove it once and for all? He sees to be just dodging the issue.

Actually, I don’t really care if he is or not, what he is doing as President is a far worse crime than being an alien.

[Uncle Chip]

As a law student, I am being trained to be meticulous, well-reasoned, and intelligent. After my final exam grades come back, we'll see how well I'm doing.

If this diatribe is an example of your training, choose another career path.

[usmcobra]

I agree with that conclusion about Jindal. Even if he was the greatest republican politicians since Reagan if he is not a Natural Born Citizen he cannot be president.

The Democrats were so desperate for A “Clean” candidate they choose Obama even though they knew he was not eligible.

[etraveler13]

0bamas’ hidden records: Why are these off limits?

1 Certified copy of original birth certificate
2 Columbia University transcripts
3 Columbia thesis paper
4 Campaign donor analysis requested by 7 major watchdog groups
5 Harvard University transcripts
6 Illinois State Senate records
7 Illinois State Senate schedule
8 Law practice client list and billing records/summary
9 Locations and names of all half-siblings and step-mother
10 Medical records (only the one page summary released so far)
11 Occidental College Transcripts
12 Parent’s marriage Certificate
13 Record of baptism
14 Selective Service registration records
15 Schedules for trips outside of the United States before 2007
16 Passport records for all passports
17 Scholarly articles
18 SAT and LSAT test scores
19 Access to his grandmother in Kenya
20 List of all campaign workers that are lobbyists
21 Punahou grade school records
22 Noelani Kindergarten records are oddly missing from the the State of Hawaii Department of Education.

Clearing the Smoke on Obama’s Eligibility: An Intelligence Investigator’s June 10 Report
“The Territorial Public Health Statistics Act in the 1955 Revised Laws of Hawaii
In the State of Hawaii, back in 1961, there were four different ways to get an “original birth certificate” on record.
BC1. If the birth was attended by a physician or mid wife, ....
BC2. In 1961, if a person was born in Hawaii but not attended by a physician or midwife, then all that was required was that one of the parents send in a birth certificate to be filed. The birth certificate could be filed by mail.
.... there is and was no requirement for a physician or midwife to witness, state or report that the baby was born in Hawaii.
BC3. In 1961, if a person was born in Hawaii but not attended by a physician or midwife, then, up to the first birthday of the child, a “Delayed Certificate” could be filed...
BC4. If a child is born in Hawaii, for whom no physician or mid wife filed a certificate of live birth, and for whom no Delayed Certificate was filed before the first birthday, then a Certificate of Hawaiian Birth could be issued upon testimony of an adult (including the subject person [i.e. the birth child as an adult]) if the Office of the Lieutenant Governor was satisfied that a person was born in Hawaii, provided that the person had attained the age of one year. ...
In 1982, the vital records law was amended to create a fifth kind of “original birth certificate”. Under Act 182 H.B. NO. 3016-82, “Upon application of an adult or the legal parents of a minor child, the director of health shall issue a birth certificate for such adult or minor, provided that the proof has been submitted to the director of health that the legal parents of such individual while living without the Territory or State of Hawaii had declared the Territory or State of Hawaii as their legal residence for at least one year immediately preceding the birth or adoption of such child.”
In this way “state policies and procedures” accommodate even “children born out of State” (this is the actual language of Act 182) with an “original birth certificate on record.”

It is Obama’s being only a first generation U.S. citizen because of his father not being a United States citizen at Obama’s birth that caused his divided allegiance and loyalty at birth (United States v. British and Kenyan) and disqualifies him to be President and Commander in Chief. It is through his father that Obama was born with allegiance and loyalty to Great Britain (which continues until today), which then converted to allegiance and loyalty to Kenya. It does not matter that his mother was a United States citizen because at birth Obama inherited allegiance and loyalty to a foreign power (Great Britain) from his father just as he would have inherited allegiance and loyalty to a foreign power if born to parents who were both non-United States citizens. By Obama’s mother being a United States citizen at his birth, Obama was just spared acquiring even another foreign allegiance and loyalty. Just like a naturalized citizen who—despite taking an oath renouncing all foreign allegiances and loyalties and which incidentally Obama has never done —cannot be President because he or she is born with allegiance and loyalty to a foreign country, Obama, born with allegiance and loyalty to a foreign country, also cannot be President. All this leads to the inescapable conclusion that Obama is not an Article II “natural born Citizen” and is therefore ineligible to be President and Commander in Chief of the Military.

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.

Natural-born citizen

Who is a natural-born citizen? Who, in other words, is a citizen at birth, such that that person can be a President someday?

The 14th Amendment defines citizenship this way: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.” But even this does not get specific enough. As usual, the Constitution provides the framework for the law, but it is the law that fills in the gaps.

Currently, Title 8 of the U.S. Code fills in those gaps. Section 1401 defines the following as people who are “citizens of the United States at birth:”

•Anyone born inside the United States *
•Any Indian or Eskimo born in the United States, provided being a citizen of the U.S. does not impair the person’s status as a citizen of the tribe
•Any one born outside the United States, both of whose parents are citizens of the U.S., as long as one parent has lived in the U.S.
•Any one born outside the United States, if one parent is a citizen and lived in the U.S. for at least one year and the other parent is a U.S. national
•Any one born in a U.S. possession, if one parent is a citizen and lived in the U.S. for at least one year
•Any one found in the U.S. under the age of five, whose parentage cannot be determined, as long as proof of non-citizenship is not provided by age 21
•Any one born outside the United States, if one parent is an alien and as long as the other parent is a citizen of the U.S. who lived in the U.S. for at least five years (with military and diplomatic service included in this time)
•A final, historical condition: a person born before 5/24/1934 of an alien father and a U.S. citizen mother who has lived in the U.S.
* There is an exception in the law — the person must be “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States. This would exempt the child of a diplomat, for example, from this provision.

Anyone falling into these categories is considered natural-born, and is eligible to run for President or Vice President. These provisions allow the children of military families to be considered natural-born, for example.

Separate sections handle territories that the United States has acquired over time, such as Puerto Rico (8 USC 1402), Alaska (8 USC 1404), Hawaii (8 USC 1405), the U.S. Virgin Islands (8 USC 1406), and Guam (8 USC 1407). Each of these sections confer citizenship on persons living in these territories as of a certain date, and usually confer natural-born status on persons born in those territories after that date. For example, for Puerto Rico, all persons born in Puerto Rico between April 11, 1899, and January 12, 1941, are automatically conferred citizenship as of the date the law was signed by the President (June 27, 1952). Additionally, all persons born in Puerto Rico on or after January 13, 1941, are natural-born citizens of the United States. Note that because of when the law was passed, for some, the natural-born status was retroactive.

The law contains one other section of historical note, concerning the Panama Canal Zone and the nation of Panama. In 8 USC 1403, the law states that anyone born in the Canal Zone or in Panama itself, on or after February 26, 1904, to a mother and/or father who is a United States citizen, was “declared” to be a United States citizen. Note that the terms “natural-born” or “citizen at birth” are missing from this section.

In 2008, when Arizona Senator John McCain ran for president on the Republican ticket, some theorized that because McCain was born in the Canal Zone, he was not actually qualified to be president. However, it should be noted that section 1403 was written to apply to a small group of people to whom section 1401 did not apply. McCain is a natural-born citizen under 8 USC 1401(c): “a person born outside of the United States and its outlying possessions of parents both of whom are citizens of the United States and one of whom has had a residence in the United States or one of its outlying possessions, prior to the birth of such person.” Not eveyone agrees that this section includes McCain — but absent a court ruling either way, we must presume citizenship

The U.S. law in effect during Obama’s birth stated if you are born abroad to one U.S. parent and a foreign national, the U.S. parent must have resided in the United States for a least 10 years, five of which were after the age of 14 in order to register the child’s birth abroad in the United States as a “natural born” U.S. citizen. (Nationality Act of 1940, revised June 1952 and affirmed several times since). Since Obama was born in Hawaii, this law does not directly apply to him. It does, however, offer another specific definition of “natural-born” citizenship - one which confers “natural-born” status to multi-national children insofar as the US parent has resided in America for 10 years, five of which occur after the age of 14. Unfortunately, Obama’s American mother was just 18 when she delivered him. So he fails to meet even this definition of “natural-born.”

Those, unlike your origonal post, are facts, verifiable, and applicable. All the posturing in the world, is only good before the trial starts, then the facts stand alone, which is why he is spending the money for that not to happen. Facts are facts, but perception is reality.

[Ol' Sparky]

The “facts” would equate to a valid birth certificate that can be examined by skeptics and the news media.

[Drew68]

Everybody seems to claim that on ALL of the "certifigate" birth certificate messagethreads.

Haven't you read any of them, there must be hundreds upon hundreds of postings stating just that.

Not everybody. There's plenty of us on this forum who believe that the definition of NBC that requires both parents to be U.S. citizens is pure bunk, a fictional definition created by birthers to be a standard of eligibility that Obama could not possibly meet.

Furthermore, there's this:

That's the Chief Justice of the highest court in the land swearing in a man whose foreign father is a matter of public record to the office of the presidency.

And then there's the 62 (and counting) dismissed or denied eligibility cases. Pay particular attention to Ankeny v. Daniels as this is the only court case so far that has offered an opinion on Obama's eligibility as it pertains to the 2 citizen parent requirement. Not surprisingly, the court didn't buy the birther definition.

Lots of people posting something over and over again doesn't make it fact.

[Non-Sequitur]

bump

[UCANSEE2]

The author is arguing here that Hawaii had no “long-form” birth certificate in 1961.

The author here is trying to brown-nose his instructors in hopes of a better grade on his thesis.

[UCANSEE2]

Why post this nonsense?

Because that is one of the reasons for this website. We post articles here so that we can debate them. We may agree with them, or we may challenge them.

If we only posted articles that everyone agreed with, what would there be to discuss?

[andy58-in-nh]

The author here is trying to brown-nose his instructors in hopes of a better grade on his thesis.

LOL! Perhaps that's true, but the question remains: is he, as a matter of fact, incorrect in asserting that the certificate we have seen is complete and accurate? I have seen no conclusive evidence that it is, and a great deal to suggest it may not be.

[UCANSEE2]

There is one slight problem with this....The Philippines was once a US territory and enjoys a special relationship with the United States even today,

A 'fact' the author seemed to miss.

[namvolunteer]

Obama went to Pakistan in 1981 when you couldn’t go there on an American passport and when dual citizenship was not allowed by law. He must have traveled there on an Indonesian passport, thereby ending his American citizenship, a decision he made as an adult.
That’s the strongest argument that he has not continually maintained American citizenship.

[Drew68]

Obama went to Pakistan in 1981 when you couldn’t go there on an American passport and when dual citizenship was not allowed by law.

Please show me where travel to Pakistan on a U.S. passport was prohibited in 1981.

[tired_old_conservative]

These threads are such a dismaying education in the power of urban legends. As I get older, I sometimes wonder if the Enlightenment really happened at all. People simply believe whatever they want to believe.

But, for the record, there was never a ban on traveling to Pakistan with a US passport in 1981, lots of people did it, and the facts have been posted ad nauseum.

[hennie pennie]

Why is BHO spending over a million dollars to NOT release his long form birth certificate?

Personally, I don't believe he was born in Hawaii. Of course I can't PROVE it, but it seems that BHO can't prove it, either.

And what's will his wife Michelle being quoted on the campaign as telling his supporters NOT to worry, that they weren't going to let a "little thing like an adoption" keep BNO from becoming prez??