Posted on 11/26/2008 12:08:43 PM PST by doug from upland
Doug, why doesn’t say Justice Scalia order the record unsealed and the birth certificate produced as a court exhibit? I’m not a lawyer but that might expedite decision, no?
Our Constitutional expert needs to answer that.
Good question!
I’m not sure about that. There may be some states that could invalidate that elector’s vote.
How many times has the Vice President been chosen by the U.S. Senate?
Once. In the Presidential election of 1836, the election for Vice President was decided in the Senate. Martin Van Buren’s running mate, Richard M. Johnson, fell one vote short of a majority in the Electoral College. Vice Presidential candidates Francis Granger and Johnson had a “run-off” in the Senate under the 12th Amendment, where Johnson was elected 33 votes to 17.
http://blog.nola.com/SELU/2008/11/the_electoral_college_explaine.html
Faithless electors usually act alone but sometimes form a bloc. Fortunately, faithless electors have never changed the outcome of an election. They can be punished by the state they represent after they have cast a vote outside their pledge, but their votes will still count in determining who will win the election, except in Michigan and Minnesota, where state laws invalidate votes cast other than as pledged.
While 24 states have laws to punish faithless electors, none have actually been punished.
At this point, why would the birth certificate even be needed? If the certificate were to state he was born in Kenya he is not a natural born citizen. If the certificate were to state he was born in Hawaii, he is still not a natural born citizen because he was born a British subject through his father.
If I am wrong, please explain. It just looks like either way he is not a natural born citizen.
In 2000 1 elector from DC did not vote for Gore as required by DC statue, but the vote still stood. I don’t know what happened to her though.
If he was indeed born in Hawaii, then the first clause of the 14th amendment makes him a natural born citizen, his father notwithstanding.
read later
As I cited above, both Michigan and Minnesota will negate the electoral vote of a faithless elector.
The Justices can’t do this UNLESS they have a case before them and issue CERT. SCOTUS has to go by the process as does any other court.
When an Elector seeks to violate his/her pledge, the remaining Electors can choose anyone, including the Building Superintendent who is waxing the floor in the hall, swear that person in, and they can cast that vote.
The answer of what happens when a candidate is disqualified, is provided by Horace Greeley, who ran for President but died after the election, but before the Electoral College met. Greeley's Electors were then freed to vote as they chose. The same would happen to Obama's Electors if he were ruled ineligible to receive those votes.
This is the fourth thread on which I've given the Horace Greeley explanation. Doesn't anyone read te threads on FR? Sheesh.
Congressman Billybob
Latest article, "The Barack Obama - King George Connection"
The Declaration, the Constitution, parts of the Federalist, and America's Owner's Manual, here.
If he was born in Hawaii, he’s a natural-born citizen regardless of his parentage.
If he was born outside the US, he might still qualify as a “natural-born citizen,” since his mother was certainly a citizen, but the issue gets a good deal more complicated and debatable.
The Constitution doesn’t really define who qualifies as a natural-born citizen.
Those pursuing this issue with enthusiasm might want to give a little thought to the probable result of successfully proving the Obama isn’t qualified. The aftermath of MLK’s assassination might be a good place to start.
Doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be pursued, but it shouldn’t be thought of as a cost-free approach to dealing with a political enemy.
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