The question of place of birth and duel citizenship are red herrings in all this. Obama's father was a British citizen and that prevents Obama from being a natural born citizen. A natural born citizen does not mean he was born here but that both his parents were citizens and he was born in the US or born somewhere else where one or both of his parents served in the military or for the consular service. The definition of a natural born citizen was taken by the writers of the constitution from,The Law of Nations, a book Benjamin Franklin read and gave to fellow framers. British common law defined native citizens as anyone born anywhere to a British citizen, which we fought a war over when the impressment of our citizen sailors by the British Navy led to the War of 1812. Unless statute law has changed Obama has never been qualified to hold the office. Neither was Chester A Arthur, whose father was a Canadian or Irish citizen but definitely not American at the time of Arthur's birth. Any lawyers out there who can comment on the statute law regarding this, if it has changed, are welcomed to.
The question of place of birth and duel citizenship are red herrings in all this. Obama’s father was a British citizen and that prevents Obama from being a natural born citizen. A natural born citizen does not mean he was born here but that both his parents were citizens and he was born in the US or born somewhere else where one or both of his parents served in the military or for the consular service. The definition of a natural born citizen was taken by the writers of the constitution from,The Law of Nations, a book Benjamin Franklin read and gave to fellow framers. British common law defined native citizens as anyone born anywhere to a British citizen, which we fought a war over when the impressment of our citizen sailors by the British Navy led to the War of 1812. Unless statute law has changed Obama has never been qualified to hold the office. Neither was Chester A Arthur, whose father was a Canadian or Irish citizen but definitely not American at the time of Arthur’s birth. Any lawyers out there who can comment on the statute law regarding this, if it has changed, are welcomed to.
The Indiana Court of Appeals ruled on this issue with specific regard to Barack Obama in the case of Ankeny et.al. v Mitch Daniels, the Governor of Indiana. The court ruled that Obama does indeed qualify as a natural born citizen for Article 2 Section 1 purposes. The plaintiffs made the argument that Obama was ineligible to receive Indiana’s Electoral votes because both his parents were not native born citizens. The original trial court and the court of appeals rejected that argument. The Indiana justices rejected The Law of Nations as having relevance.
Please refer to Section B “Native Born Citizen” of the Court’s decision which begins on page 10 of the order of dismissal.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/22488868/ANKENY-v-GOVERNOR-OF-THE-STATE-OF-INDIANA-APPEALS-COURT-OPINION-11120903
The Ankeny decision has not yet been appealed to a higher court.