Rumors Fly Over Possible Schwarzenegger Bid For VP

WCBSTV.COM ^ | 21 JUNE 2007 | WCBSTV.COM

[gidget7]

OK I stand happily corrected :)

Something any 6th grader SHOULD know, hows that?

[Honcho]

Let’s say for argument’s sake that this article is correct and that the Terminator could serve as VP but not as President(Which I know is not true.) What good would would a Vice President be if he/she had to step a side in the event something happened to the President? What moron would endorse a decision to have a VP who couldn't become President? Everyone knows the VP doesn't have any real power. Serving as the President's replacement is the sole purpose OF the Vice-President.

[calcowgirl]

People have been trying.... and are still trying... to change the Constitution, including some of our ‘esteemed’ GOP Senators. And many people support the idea! That’s what is so scary. Arnold as Governor was perceived as a big joke a year before the recall election. Look at us now! The way he was able to manipulate/control the media during the recall election was frightening. I’m not confident that our dumbed down society would rise-UP! Instead, they may just hail the fictional action hero—again!

The man has some powerful ties that have surprised us already. *Any* accommodation of furthering his political career should be strongly opposed at every step, IMO.

[AuH2ORepublican]

There are several open questions regarding the constitutional eligibility to be elected Vice President. For example, it is certainly arguabe (and, I believe, more likely than not) that a two-term President such as Bill Clinton or George W. Bush could be elected VP, since the 22nd Amendment does not change the constitutional requirements to *serve as* President, merely to *be elected* President (and the 12th Amendment merely says that persons constitutionally ineligible to serve as President may not serve as VP). And reasonable minds may disagree on the exact definition of “natural-born citizen” for purposes of constitutional qualifications for the presidency, although the overwhelming majority of scholars agree that it refers to persons who are U.S. citizens from birth, including foreign-born children of U.S. citizens who meet the requirements for citizenship at birth.

However, there is absolutely no doubt that (i) Arnold Schwarzenegger is not a natural-born U.S. citizen (he is a naturalized U.S. citizen) and (ii) it is a requirement to serve as U.S. President or U.S. Vice President to be a natural-born U.S. citizen. It is ridiculous that someone would waste time and money writing an article about a possible VP candidacy for Arnold Schwarzenegger.

[AuH2ORepublican]

I hadn’t heard the Sam Houston story. Thank you.

Are you sure that persons born in Louisiana, Hawaii, California, etc. prior to annexation were deemed to be “citizens from birth” by federal law? at the very least, such designation would have been limited to persons who were residents of those territories at the time of annexation. In the case of Puerto Rico, Spanish subjects who resided in Puerto Rico on a certain date in 1899 (when the transfer of Puerto Rico from Spain to the U.S. pursuant to the Treaty of Paris went into effect), and their descendents subsequently born in Puerto Rico, were deemed to be “nationals of the United States” (the status held by American Samoans to this day) commencing on such date; under a federal law adopted in 1917 (the Jones Act), those same Spanish subjects and their descendents became U.S. citizens effective on that (1917) date. However, the U.S. citizenship conferred upon Puerto Ricans was not back-dated to their birth. I would be willing to wager that the citizens of the Republic of Hawaii who were conferred U.S. citizens in 1900 were deemed to have become U.S. citizens in 1900, not at birth, and that it was limited to Hawaiian citizens who resided in Hawaii on some specific date in 1898.

[Political Junkie Too]

Chacon says the law is clear. But, it's not 100 percent clear that courts would challenge or enforce it rather that leave it to the political process.

Ha! Another immigration law that won't be enforced.

-PJ

[Redmen4ever]

As long as we are agreed that we’re talking about a hypothetical, these people seem to be in an in-between place, not being naturalized, but having a birth-right citizenship transferred to the U.S. upon an annexation. Since, to my satisfaction, the rights of natural born citizens are exactly the same as those of naturalized citizens, except for eligibility for U.S. President, I don’t think the issue has been adjudicated. I don’t think we’ll find out the answer any time soon.