I write on sports, politics or whatever I'm thinking about at the time. My posts indicate what I'm thinking about, not necessarily what I actually think, but I do try to make them accurate and informative.
Monday, December 8, 2008
"Natural born" citizens
I found this interesting. I found this article because I was curious about this Supreme Court conference that took place on Friday, supposedly. We'll hopefully find out the outcome of this conference soon, today? At any rate, it has direct bearing on the case at hand. Contrary to media reports, the case before the Supreme Court right now is not challenging that Obama was not born in the U.S., he was (Hawaii), nor is it challenging that he was not a citizen at birth, he was (his mother was a citizen and he was born in the U.S. so he's a citizen). What is interesting about this case is that it challenges his eligibility to be President because his father was NOT a U.S. citizen at the time of his birth but was instead a British citizen. According the Leo Donofrio, who brought the suit in the first place (Donofrio vs. Wells), this would make him ineligible because he can't be a natural born citizen under the constitution unless both his parents were naturalized citizens at the time of his birth. That is what this case is about, really. It isn't questioning his citizenship at all. Interestingly, Chester Arthur, who was President after Garfield's assassination, bears the same qualification as described in the link above. I don't think it is in the country's best interests for the Supreme Court to throw out the election, especially since the suit also names John McCain and one third party candidate as equally ineligible, for different reasons. After all, what would happen if they ruled these three candidates (one of them was not born in the U.S. and therefore obviously isn't a "natural born" citizen) ineligible. Who becomes President? Does it free up the electors to vote for whomever they wish? Does Joe Biden get Obama's electors? Do the electors go off and do their own thing, probably causing some rather interesting free for all politics (which would be fascinating to me). Perhaps we should have another election including only those candidates that are eligible. Would this leave both the Republican party and the Democratic party out of the process and perhaps birth a real third party in this country? See, I love to ask questions and think on a subject. I suspect the Supreme Court will refuse the case even though I'd love for them to clarify, once and for all, what it means to be natural born. It'd be much more interesting. For a rather interesting and insightful look at this issue, read this article.
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