[OldNavyVet]

"No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President."

Pardon me, but doesn't that second comma pervert the intent - and meaning - of the sentence?

[ClearCase_guy]

That comma does seem to be poorly chosen -- but if we place emphasis on that comma, then I think the document means you have to be a citizen to be president. Which means Schwarzenegger could run.

No. The accepted meaning is that only an NBC can be president, or someone born in this country before the Constitution was ratified. Merely being a citizen is not sufficient.

[ConjunctionJunction]

What’s more troubling is that the Supremes might try and read the 14th Amendment to say that it somehow modifies Article 2 of the U.S. Constitution so that any citizen (natural born or naturalized) is qualified to run for POTUS. I have seen this argument being made already.

[noinfringers2]

To me it is a very coherent construction dealing with two seperate and distinct situations.

[noinfringers2]

To me it is a very coherent construction dealing with two seperate and distinct situations.