“This clearly acknowledges that a minor COULD lose his citizenship from an act of the parents, or on his own after coming of age.”
Obama could undoubtedly lose his citizenship by renouncing it after coming of age. He could not lose it prior to that time.
“Miss Elg was born in Brooklyn, New York, on October 2, 1907. Her parents, who were natives of Sweden, emigrated to the United States sometime prior to 1906, and her father was naturalized here in that year. In 1911, her mother took her to Sweden, where she continued to reside until September 7, 1929. Her father went to Sweden in 1922, and has not since returned to the United States. In November, 1934, he made a statement before an American consul in Sweden that he had voluntarily expatriated himself for the reason that he did not desire to retain the status of an American citizen and wished to preserve his allegiance to Sweden.
In 1928, shortly before Miss Elg became twenty-one years of age, she inquired an American consul in Sweden about returning to the United States and was informed that, if she returned after attaining majority, she should seek an American passport. In 1929, within eight months after attaining majority, she obtained an American passport which was issued on the instructions of the Secretary of State. She then returned to the United States, was admitted as a citizen and has resided in this country ever since.”
“6. The Act of March 2, 1907, in providing “That any American citizen shall be deemed to have expatriated himself when he has been naturalized in any foreign state in conformity with its laws, . . . “ was aimed at voluntary expatriation, and was not intended to destroy the right of a native citizen, removed from this country during minority, to elect to retain the citizenship acquired by birth and to return here for that purpose, even though he may be deemed to have been naturalized under the foreign law by derivation from the citizenship of his parents before he came of age. P. 307 U. S. 342. “
http://supreme.justia.com/us/307/325/case.html
That is my understanding.
HOWEVER: There are other ways (certain actions) to lose citizenship other than "renouncing" -- correct?
I don't have a list of all the perticulars... but I think becoming a citizen of a foreign country and taking up arms against the United States, or plotting against same, would probably forfeit citizenship.
So it IS possible there ARE things Obama could have done -- other than "renouncing" -- to put his citizenship in jeopardy, yes?
STE=Q
The Elg decision also talks about the treaty between Norway/Sweden and the United States, in which it says, “nothing is said in the treaty which in such a case would destroy the right of election which appropriately belongs to the child on attaining majority. If the abrogation of that right had been in contemplation, it would naturally have been the subject of a provision suitably explicit. Rights of citizenship are not to be destroyed by an ambiguity.” This would suggest that if the other country did NOT allow a child to claim dual citizenship, the U.S. would be unable to do anything about it. In regard to Indonesia, there’s no ambiguity about its citizenship. They do not allow dual citizenship.
And if you go back to my previous post, I mentioned, “The key part is whether Obama was at some point considered (by himself or others) and ACTED as a sole citizen of Indonesia ...” This idea is echoed in the Elg decision, “such child upon arriving of age, or within a reasonable time thereafter, must make election between the citizenship which is his by birth and the citizenship which is his by parentage.” Putting aside that Obama was apparently a British subject at birth and not clearly a U.S. citizen, the question remains, did he elect to remain a citizen of Indonesia, even after returning to Hawaii to live with his grandparents and upon going to college?? Did he ever legally elect to be a U.S. citizen??