Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

To: jasonmyos

Well, there is this argumnet:

Why Senator John McCain Cannot Be President: Eleven Months and a Hundred Yards Short of Citizenship

Abstract:
Senator McCain was born in 1936 in the Canal Zone to U.S. citizen parents. The Canal Zone was territory controlled by the United States, but it was not incorporated into the Union. As requested by Senator McCain’s campaign, distinguished constitutional lawyers Laurence Tribe and Theodore Olson examined the law and issued a detailed opinion offering two reasons that Senator McCain was a natural born citizen. Neither is sound under current law. The Tribe-Olson Opinion suggests that the Canal Zone, then under exclusive U.S. jurisdiction, may have been covered by the Fourteenth Amendment’s grant of citizenship to “all persons born . . . in the United States.” However, in the Insular Cases, the Supreme Court held that “unincorporated territories” were not part of the United States for constitutional purposes. Accordingly, many decisions hold that persons born in unincorporated territories are not Fourteenth Amendment citizens. The Tribe-Olson Opinion also suggests that Senator McCain obtained citizenship by statute. However, the only statute in effect in 1936 did not cover the Canal Zone. Recognizing the gap, in 1937, Congress passed a citizenship law applicable only to the Canal Zone, granting Senator McCain citizenship, but eleven months too late for him to be a citizen at birth. Because Senator John McCain was not a citizen at birth, he is not a “natural born Citizen” and thus is not “eligible to the Office of President” under the Constitution.


56 posted on 08/13/2008 7:15:32 AM PDT by NC28203
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]


To: NC28203
I believe one thing they failed to ignore, but freepers noticed when this first came up, was the laws they are referring to applied if one parent was a citizen. Because both of McCain's parents where citizens, it wouldn't matter, he is covered by the Naturalization Act of 1795 on this. Also, the law that was written in 1937 validated retroactively that anyone born after February 26, 1904 is a natural born citizen.
60 posted on 08/13/2008 7:24:12 AM PDT by mnehring
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 56 | View Replies ]

To: NC28203
Because Senator John McCain was not a citizen at birth, he is not a “natural born Citizen”....

That's a huge leap.

65 posted on 08/13/2008 7:39:01 AM PDT by Petronski (The God of Life will condemn the Chinese government. Laogai means GULAG.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 56 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson