Replies

But if a man is constitutionally ineligible to be the President, how is he then a “sitting President” who can only be removed in the manner that a man occupying the office who is eligible must be removed. The question remains one of why the de facto doctrine would not apply to a man occupying the office of president just as it would to a lesser official appointed or elected in violation of the Constitution? Would it not be a question of applying the Constitution and declaring what the law is to expose the lack of de jure authority rather than removing someone who does have such de jure authority? Your assertion, I believe, assumes the de jure status that is at issue.

Thus far there have been more than sixty court cases attempting to have Obama declared ineligible in state, state appeals, state Supreme, federal distict, federal court of appeals and US Supreme Court levels. Obama is 62 for 62 in having adjudications go his way concerning his eligibility. There are 3 or 4 outstanding suits still pending.

Impeachment and trial in the Senate is the remedy. Once a candidate’s electoral votes are certified and he or she is sworn in, that’s that. It was the job of Congress to stop an alleged ineligible candidate’s Electoral votes from being certified. Once they are certified, he’s eligible. And once he’s sworn in, he’s president.

I’m sure that you’ve noticed the seven lawsuits (Berg v Obama, Craig v US, Donofrio v Wells, Herbert v Obama, Lightfoot v Bowen, Schneller v Cortex and Wrotnowski v. Bysiewicz) attempting to challenge Obama’s eligibility that have reached cert conferences at the Supreme Court seeking Writs of Certiorari. Every one of them has been rejected by the Supremes without comment. That’s because of separation of powers. Only Congress has the power to remove a sworn in president from office. The Constitution is mute on ineligible candidates assuming office.
Finally, the state of Hawaii has vouched for the authenticity of Obama’s birth records. Unless and until some new information comes to light, Barack Hussein Obama II is over 35 years of age and was born in Honolulu on August 4, 1961 at 7:24 p.m.

“Only Congress has the power to remove a sworn in president from office. The Constitution is mute on ineligible candidates assuming office.

“Finally, the state of Hawaii has vouched for the authenticity of Obama’s birth records. Unless and until some new information comes to light, Barack Hussein Obama II is over 35 years of age and was born in Honolulu on August 4, 1961 at 7:24 p.m.”

Whether or not the Constitution is “mute on ineligible candidates assuming office” is in dispute and specifically has yet to be tested in the form of a writ of quo warranto hearing in the DC Circuit that would place the burden of proof on Obama to both prove and defend his eligibility for the first time.

Leo D’Onofrio’s contention, subsequently validated by one federal judge, Judge Carter, is that quo warranto applies to the POTUS. D’Onofrio’s analysis is that by passing the quo warranto statute, Congress has delegated to one specific court, the DC Circuit, its exclusive power to find the POTUS to be ineligible. The DC Circuit in a quo warranto proceeding is acting as an agent of the legislative branch, not within the exclusive powers of the judicial branch, thus no violation of separation of powers in this interpretation.

The DOJ, in the case before Judge Carter, argued that quo warranto does not apply to the POTUS. In effect, DOJ argued that once a president is inaugurated, congress loses its power to declare him to be ineligible. Judge Carter said that was troubling and in dicta said that the DC Circuit was the correct venue to challenge the eligibility of the POTUS.

We may all be about to find out who is right!

So, your point is that because other lawsuits involving different issues in which it was found that there was a lack of standing, unlike in the Hollister case, have not been taken up preliminarily by the Supreme Court the different issues that are raised in the Hollister case have been decided. I would have to disagree. None of those cases, for example, raised a de facto officer issue. So it is not clear how those events answer the question asked. In fact, if fhe Rule of Law were to prevail, they clearly do not. My inquiry was about that doctrine, but, with all due respect, that inquiry does not seem to have been addressed in the responses.

Jim, the eligibility issue has never been before SCOTUS. In the cases brought in other courts, the dismissals have been because of standing of the plaintiffs or jurisdiction of the court, and in the one case of Kerchner vs Soetoro, because of a "lack of claim."

In no court have the substantive issues been tried. This is not to say that progress has not been made. The issue will be before the Federal District Court in Washington, D.C., where it belongs.

Ineligible or not, the guy is a sitting POTUS, and can only be removed by impeachment and conviction. He may be de facto, but he can only be removed, IMHO, by a de jure process. TO do otherwise would only do more damage to the Constitution than this prepostor has already done, and put us squarely in the camp of the "Banana Republics."