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'US CITIZEN' AND 'NATURAL BORN CITIZEN' ARE NOT INTERCHANGEABLE
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Posted on 12/11/2008 8:20:46 AM PST by ckilmer

'US CITIZEN' AND 'NATURAL BORN CITIZEN' ARE NOT INTERCHANGEABLE

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SEPERATING THE FACTS FROM THE FICTION REGARDING LEO DONOFRIO AND SCOTUS LAWSUIT "WROTNOWSKI V. BYSIEWICZ". WHY THE ISSUES RAISED ARE LEGITIMATE AND FAR FROM THE FRIVILOUS NATURE OF OTHER LEGAL EFFORTS.

The following was initially written as a generic Editorial Reply to the large number of incorrect Editorials and articles I have read in various publications regarding the Supreme Court cases commonly referred to as Wrotnowski v. Bysiewicz and Donofrio v. Wells.
I, as any American should, place my faith and loyalty in our Founding Fathers and the Constitution first and our elected and government officials a distant second. We are a Nation of laws and no individual is above the law - not even the President; not even the president-elect.

It is shameful that various news organizations which are allegedly in the business of collecting, verifying and reporting facts attempt to dismiss those of us concerned with Barrack Obama's citizenship status as a lying, unprincipled - even delusional - lot. Admittedly there is, in fact, a fringe element involved in the Obama citizenship issue.

Rather than separating the facts from the fiction, so-called news organizations have instead chosen to further confuse and mislead the public. In effect, many news organization's official editorial positions are no better than the fringe element they attempt to dismiss, often by name calling.

For reasons unbeknownst to me, the fringe element has caught the attention and imagination of mainstream media, while those forwarding factual, legitimate concerns have been obscured and mitigated.

Two such factual, legitimate efforts are the lawsuits filed by New Jersey's Leo Donofrio and Connecticut's Cort Wrotnowski. The fact that three Presidential candidates could get this far into the National Election without being properly exposed is prima fascia evidence that the dominance of the two-party system has been pervasively damaging to our Constitutional Republic. Additionally, there has been extreme confusion; some would say ignorance, pertaining to the differences inherent between being a 'citizen' and a 'natural born citizen'.

Mr. Donofrio, the attorney that filed Donofrio v. Wells with the Supreme Court, filed his initial lawsuit in NJ Appellate Court on October 27th, 2008. This came a month after Donofrio made his initial inquiry to the New Jersey Secretary of the State, Virginia Wells, as to why she had certified the New Jersey ballot which included Socialist Workers Party candidate Roger Calero. Though Mr. Calero had no reasonable chance of winning the election, Mr. Calero has made no secret that he was born in Nicaragua, to two non-United States nationals. In other words, Roger Calero, by his own admission has no business being on the NJ ballot.

Mr. Donofrio had taken note of Calero's inclusion on the non-certified sample ballot that the NJ SOTS had published so that voters could familiarize themselves with it prior to certification. Donofrio called the NJ SOTS office and inquired into what verification process used to vet the Constitutional eligibility of Presidential candidates before publishing and certifying the ballots. The NJ SOTS office admitted that it relied on the various political parties to verify eligibility before submitting the candidacy affidavits, meaning the NJ SOTS doesn't do ANYTHING to independently verify candidate eligibility. Mr. Donofrio, a lawyer, rightly chose to challenge this revelation in court.

During the research he did before filing his initial case, it became apparent to Mr. Donofrio that not only is Mr. Calero Constitutionally ineligible, but so are Mr. Obama and Senator McCain. Why? How could this be the case? Here is the relevant passage from Article II, Section 1 of the United States Constitution:
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; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.

The key phrase here is "or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President". The Founding Fathers included this phrase because virtually everyone was a British Subject at the time of the adoption of the Constitution. In other words, the passage serves as a grandfather clause conferring 'natural born citizen' status to those who were ALIVE at the time of the adoption of the Constitution.

No where else in the Constitution does the phrase 'natural born citizen' appear. The Founding Fathers were very leery of a person with multiple allegiances becoming the Chief Executive and Commander in Chief of the United States. The only way to ensure this would not happen was to require something else that no other office in this country required . . . the status that our President be a 'natural born citizen'. That is, someone who at birth could claim only one allegiance. Thus a 'natural born citizen' is not the same as being a US born citizen. They are not an interchangeable terms of status.

Mr. Donofrio's research revealed that no other President in the history of the United States was born to anything other than two United States citizens and on United States soil, except Chester A. Arthur and history shows he lied and misled his peers and the newspapers of the time about his Father's naturalization. In other words, Chester Arthur intentionally and successfully concealed the fact that he was not born to two US citizen parents. Arthur's mother was a US citizen; his father was a British subject . . . sound familiar?

Mr. Donofrio's and Mr. Wrotnowski's cases acknowledge the fact that Mr. Obama was born in Hawaii. But Mr. Obama acknowledges on his very own website, FighttheSmears.org that he was born to one US Citizen Parent and one British Citizen Parent. Thus Mr. Obama was born with a dual allegiance and has never been, and can never be a 'natural born citizen'. Mr. Obama and the Democratic Party have knowingly deceived the public and avoided the fact that he is not legally qualified to serve as President. One must assume that Mr. Obama, a Constitutional scholar, has gone to great lengths to avoid the claim that he is a "natural born citizen". On the FightTheSmears.org website, Mr. Obama states that he is a "native born citizen", which, of course, is NOT the same as being a "natural born citizen". The term 'native born citizen' does not appear in Article II.

As you can now see, the concern that I share with millions of others who support the efforts of Mr. Donofrio and Mr. Wrotnowski has NOTHING TO DO WITH A BIRTH CERTIFICATE.

It is true that December 8th, the Supreme Court of the United States denied Donofrio v. Wells without comment however, that very same day the Honorable Justice Antonin Scalia submitted Wrontowski v Bysiewicz to be Distributed for Conference this Friday, December 12, 2008. Mr. Donofrio worked with Mr. Wrotnowski and authored the formal filing with SCOTUS. Donofrio v Wells had some unsettled judicial misconduct issues that raised scrutiny questions if the Justices had elected to take that case on. Wrotnowski v. Bysiewicz has a pristine history in its ascension through the courts.

Think about that for a moment folks . . . Donofrio v Wells was dismissed without comment, later that very same day Justice Scalia, the champion of Originalism, distributes Wrotnowski v Bysiewicz - a similar yet stronger case. If Scalia felt that Wrotnowski v. Bysiewicz didn't have merit, he wouldn't have wasted the court's time by submitting it for Conference this Friday.

Mr. Obama if finally pressed into defending his qualifications will likely resort to citing the Equal Protection clause of the 14th Amendment. The problem is the 14th Amendment dealt with equal application of the law to United States Nationals and has no relevance to the specified qualifications needed to serve as President of the United States.

Based on a literal reading of Article II and the historical context of the birth right of 43 preceding Presidents, Chester A. Arthur notwithstanding, it is clear that Barrack Obama is not a Natural Born Citizen and thus has no legal claim to take the Oath of office. To allow him to do so would be a farce and undoubtedly ignite an endless series of litigation challenging his legitimacy.

NOTES REGARDING THE CONSPIRACY CASES:
Though very little, there is merit to some of the birth certificate claims. Admittedly folks like Andy Martin and Phil Berg appear to have some mental issues.

Hawaiian law most definitely allows foreign births to have a certificate filed:
http://hawaii.gov/dhhl/applicants/appforms/applyhhl

http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol06_Ch0321-0344/HRS0338/HRS_0338-0017_0008.htm

There is also a place on the Hawaiian vault birth certificate to enter data for Hospital, Doctor and "Evidence for delayed filing or alteration".

In light of the ambiguous information that Obama has released and the fact that he unreasonably refuses to allow public inspection of his vault copy certificate it does reasonably raise and beg the question "why not?"

That said, the issues surrounding his birth certificate are irrelevant because of all the reasons I have stated above - Barrack Obama is a US Citizen, but he is NOT a 'natural born citizen' and thus has no authority to assume the office of the President.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 911truthers; birthcertificate; blackhelicopters; certifigate; conspiracytheories; conspiracytheory; obama; obamatruthfile; scotus; tinfoilhats
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To: allmendream
Yes. Natural born citizen means a U.S. citizen at birth.

The clear language of the Constitution refutes your claim ... "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"

This means that there is a difference between "natural born citizen" and "citizen of the United States." Naturalized citizens have never been eligible for the Presidency, so that does not enter into any discussion of the meaning of the language.

21 posted on 12/11/2008 10:12:09 AM PST by RegulatorCountry
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To: RegulatorCountry

U.S. citizen at birth means a “natural born citizen” i.e. not a “naturalized” citizen.

I never claimed there was no distinction between a “natural born citizen” and a “U.S. citizen”, please engage what I actually said rather than what you thought I said.

My Governor is a U.S. citizen, but he is a naturalized immigrant and not a natural born citizen. In other words (for those of you in Rio Linda) he was not a U.S. citizen AT BIRTH.


22 posted on 12/11/2008 10:15:42 AM PST by allmendream (Wealth is EARNED not distributed.... so how could it be Redistributed?)
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To: cvq3842
I wondered whether any other president born after the adoption of the Constitution had foreign parents.

Woodrow Wilson's mother was born in Scotland, IIRC.

23 posted on 12/11/2008 10:24:14 AM PST by Citizen Blade (What would Ronald Reagan do?)
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To: allmendream
The language from the Constitution, that I provided in my reply to you, cannot refer to naturalized citizens, because naturalized citizens are expressly forbidden under the Constitution.

That the language differentiates between "natural born citizen" and "citizen" in that language means that there is a difference between the two, with "citizen" not being naturalized.

So, "natural born citizen" means something more than a U. S. citizen at birth.

Shall we make you an honorary citizen of Rio Linda?

24 posted on 12/11/2008 10:36:25 AM PST by RegulatorCountry
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To: RegulatorCountry
Do you have trouble reading and comprehending simple English?

I never said there was no difference. In fact a gave a specific example of a U.S. citizen who is not a “natural born citizen” and thus would be ineligible to serve as President; namely my Governor.

I repeat to you. Engage what I said, not what you wish I said, wanted me to say or thought I said.

A natural born citizen means a citizen at birth, rather than a naturalized citizen.

25 posted on 12/11/2008 10:41:00 AM PST by allmendream (Wealth is EARNED not distributed.... so how could it be Redistributed?)
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To: ckilmer

Can a person be a natural born citizen of the United States AND be a British Subject, citizen of the UK at that same birth?


26 posted on 12/11/2008 10:43:24 AM PST by MHGinTN (Believing they cannot be deceived, they cannot be convinced when they are deceived.)
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To: MHGinTN
Can a person be a natural born citizen of the United States AND be a British Subject, citizen of the UK at that same birth?

Sure. There's nothing in US law that prevents it.

27 posted on 12/11/2008 10:46:11 AM PST by Citizen Blade (What would Ronald Reagan do?)
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To: allmendream
Do you have trouble reading and comprehending simple English?

No, I do not. I sought to explain to you the contention of the article that is the subject of this thread, namely that the language of the Constitution clearly differentiates between the "natural born citizen" and the "citizen," and that, furthermore, the "citizen" referenced in that language cannot be naturalized, therefore there is a difference between the "natural born citizen" and a U. S. citizen at birth.

Now, if you are quite finished with being rude, I'll leave you in your misunderstanding of the matter, never mind whether you agree or disagree.

28 posted on 12/11/2008 10:47:23 AM PST by RegulatorCountry
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To: RegulatorCountry

The only misunderstanding is the one you seem to be laboring under that I was ever in need of any correction on this matter.

My governor is a U.S. citizen, but not a “natural born citizen”. My saying this would make it obvious to anyone with sentience that I recognize that there is a distinction between the two.


29 posted on 12/11/2008 10:50:38 AM PST by allmendream (Wealth is EARNED not distributed.... so how could it be Redistributed?)
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To: RegulatorCountry
The bolded language in "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" deals with a unique situation at the time of the adoption of the US Constitution. At that time (and for 35 years afterwards) there is no one who would have met the test of qualifying as a natural-born citizen of the US, becuase every American citizen at such time had been born either in Europe or in one of the colonies that pre-dated the US. Until 35 years after the adoption of the Constitution, there was no American citizen who qualified as natural-born.

This provision is a historical curiousity, nothing more.

30 posted on 12/11/2008 10:53:14 AM PST by Citizen Blade (What would Ronald Reagan do?)
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To: Citizen Blade

The framers appeared to disagree with your assessment since they worked to prevent divided loyalties with the Constitutional eligibility requirements and discussed it in their letter exchanges which have survived to our day.


31 posted on 12/11/2008 11:02:04 AM PST by MHGinTN (Believing they cannot be deceived, they cannot be convinced when they are deceived.)
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To: allmendream

That’s what I thought ... until the issue arose around O and I dug into more detail and thought about it more. I’m not convinced, and think it makes for a very legitimate Supreme Court case. Upshot: a parent of a child can greatly sway the child’s loyalties (even if long absent from that child’s life).

One issue is the frequency of “dual citizenship” imparted on a child of divided-citizenship parents. Do you REALLY want a President who is 50% beholden to another nation?


32 posted on 12/11/2008 11:19:31 AM PST by ctdonath2 (I AM JOE THE PLUMBER!)
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To: Citizen Blade

But did she become a naturalized US citzen before his birth?


33 posted on 12/11/2008 11:21:15 AM PST by ctdonath2 (I AM JOE THE PLUMBER!)
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To: cvq3842

“Interesting about Chester A. Arthur. I wondered whether any other president born after the adoption of the Constitution had foreign parents.”

No wonder Arthur changed his records, burned many of his records, and hid most others. He knew he did not Constitutionally qualify to hold office. Sound familiar??


34 posted on 12/11/2008 11:22:26 AM PST by seekthetruth
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To: MHGinTN
The framers appeared to disagree with your assessment since they worked to prevent divided loyalties with the Constitutional eligibility requirements

The Constitution makes no mention of dual citizenship being a bar to the Presidency. If the FF wanted to ban dual citizens from the Presidency, they would have so stated in the COTUS.

and discussed it in their letter exchanges which have survived to our day.

The letter exchanges are interesting, but they do not override the plain text of the COTUS.

35 posted on 12/11/2008 11:25:48 AM PST by Citizen Blade (What would Ronald Reagan do?)
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To: ctdonath2
But did she become a naturalized US citzen before his birth?

I don't know. But it doesn't matter, IMO. There's nothing in COTUS, Federal law or Case law that would disqualify someone born in the US from the Presidency based on their parents' citizenship (unless the parents were diplomats or fell into one of the other unusual exceptions).

36 posted on 12/11/2008 11:28:57 AM PST by Citizen Blade (What would Ronald Reagan do?)
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To: allmendream
My governor is a U.S. citizen, but not a “natural born citizen”. My saying this would make it obvious to anyone with sentience that I recognize that there is a distinction between the two.

Your governor is naturalized. That he is naturalized means that the Constitutional language under discussion does not apply to him, and can never apply to him. He's never been eligible for the office of President, and never will be, barring a Constitutional convention and an amendment that specifically permits a naturalized citizen to become President.

Now, if you're capable of reasonable discourse, without resorting to insulting language, you'll revisit our exchange, and hopefully come away with the information that I have been trying to convey to you. It doesn't matter whether you agree or disagree; that is what the author of this piece contends. Your definition of natural born citizen carries no more weight than this one, and probably less. The term only applies to the presidency, and so any other legal precedent outside of that does not apply.

To help you out, since you don't want to scroll up to the article with which you disagree:

During the research he did before filing his initial case, it became apparent to Mr. Donofrio that not only is Mr. Calero Constitutionally ineligible, but so are Mr. Obama and Senator McCain. Why? How could this be the case? Here is the relevant passage from Article II, Section 1 of the United States Constitution: 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; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.

The key phrase here is "or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President". The Founding Fathers included this phrase because virtually everyone was a British Subject at the time of the adoption of the Constitution. In other words, the passage serves as a grandfather clause conferring 'natural born citizen' status to those who were ALIVE at the time of the adoption of the Constitution.

No where else in the Constitution does the phrase 'natural born citizen' appear. The Founding Fathers were very leery of a person with multiple allegiances becoming the Chief Executive and Commander in Chief of the United States. The only way to ensure this would not happen was to require something else that no other office in this country required . . . the status that our President be a 'natural born citizen'. That is, someone who at birth could claim only one allegiance. Thus a 'natural born citizen' is not the same as being a US born citizen. They are not an interchangeable terms of status.

Do you see where you are at odds, both with what I wrote in reply to you, and what is written in the article that is the topic of this thread?

If you don't, you're being deliberately obtuse.

37 posted on 12/11/2008 11:35:02 AM PST by RegulatorCountry
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To: seekthetruth

Yup.


38 posted on 12/11/2008 12:30:40 PM PST by cvq3842
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To: Citizen Blade

Flip side: there is nothing in law saying someone is qualified to be POTUS given a non-citizen parent. There has been some obfuscation of this issue, especially as pressed by opponents of “anchor baby” citizenship, and by recent historical scholarship noting that President Chester Arthur went to great lengths to conceal his father’s citizenship in a matter comparable to Obama’s BC issue. It’s reasonable to assume the Founding Fathers made a distinct, if imperfect, effort to prevent those of divided loyalties from becoming President. There’s enough confusion that it’s time for the Supreme Court to weigh in.


39 posted on 12/11/2008 12:31:35 PM PST by ctdonath2 (I AM JOE THE PLUMBER!)
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To: RegulatorCountry
Yes, as I said, my Governor is a naturalized rather than a natural born citizen.

Thus I acknowledged that there is a distinction between the two right from the beginning.

Thus your continued insistence that there is a difference that I am somehow not acknowledging is rather ludicrous.

My definition of a “natural born citizen” is that one is a citizen AT BIRTH; i.e. not a “naturalized citizen”. Every U.S. citizen is either one or the other.

40 posted on 12/11/2008 12:41:44 PM PST by allmendream (Wealth is EARNED not distributed.... so how could it be Redistributed?)
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