Posted on 08/25/2008 7:42:37 PM PDT by neverdem
PHILADELPHIA - A Lafayette Hill attorney filed a lawsuit in federal court Thursday challenging Sen. Barack Obama's claim to United States citizenship. The action seeks to remove the Democratic candidate from the November ballot.
To be eligible to serve as U.S. president, a person must be born in this country. According to Obama's birth certificate, which his campaign posted on its Internet site in June to quell rumors that he is foreign born, the Illinois senator was born in Hawaii on Aug. 6, 1961. On Thursday, Philip Berg filed a temporary restraining order in federal court to bar Obama from running for president, claiming the Democratic candidate was actually born in Africa.
"We really don't believe he was born in Hawaii," Berg said. "We think he was born in Kenya."
The presidential candidate's father, Barack Obama Sr., was born and raised in a small village in Kenya, according to Obama's campaign Web site.
Berg's suit claims the senator's grandmother, brother and sister, who live in Kenya, believe they were present during Obama's birth in the African country.
Obama's mother, Ann Dunham, grew up in Kansas, and his parents met at the University of Hawaii when Dunham was a student there, according to the Obama campaign. Eventually, Obama's father returned to Kenya, and his son grew up in Hawaii with his mother and for a few years in Indonesia after Dunham married an Indonesian man, Lolo Soetoro. Also, Obama lived with his maternal grandparents in Hawaii.
"If he was born in Hawaii, and he was adopted in Indonesia by Lolo Soetoro, (Obama) would lose his citizenship," Berg said.
The Obama campaign has a special section on its Web site, "Fight the Smears," that debunks the birth certificate story and other reports that have circulated about him during the campaign.
"It's part of a smear campaign," said an Obama campaign volunteer who identified herself as Rachel. "There are just so many lies out there."
The lawsuit claims three "independent" document forensic experts performed extensive tests on the digitally-scanned image of Obama's "Certificate of Live Birth" posted on the campaign's site and found the document to be "a forgery."
Jerome Corsi, author of the book, "The Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality," has also deemed the birth certificate phony, according to The Annenberg Political Fact Check, www.FactCheck.org.
The Annenberg Political Fact Check, a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania, aims to expose deception and confusion in U.S. politics.
Recently, FactCheck.org staffers "touched, examined and photographed" the original birth certificate kept at the Obama campaign headquarters in Chicago and concluded the document is genuine.
"The evidence is clear: Barack Obama was born in the U.S.A.," FactCheck.org staffers concluded.
Sean Smith, Obama's Pennsylvania communications director, was contacted Friday about the suit but declined comment.
The civil suit filed by Berg will be reviewed by the U.S. Federal Election Commission, according to Patty Hartman, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
Keith Phucas can be reached at kphucas@timesherald.com or 610-272-2500, ext. 211.
madaline albright was born outside the usa and is disqualified.
Assuming he actually was born in America, of course.
She's disqualified because she is a naturalized citizen, not because she was born abroad.
The link given in the post above (post 121 I think) says that a child born out of wedlock in a foreign country to a US citizen mother who had been in the US for a year is an American citizen at birth.
They key words are ‘out of wedlock’.
Stanley Ann was married to Barrak Sr.
IF, IF, he was born in Kenya the marriage was valid, so Barrak, Jr. is a Kenyan both by location of birth, and father’s citizenship.
If he was born in Hawai’i, then the marriage was not valid (bigamy), and he is an American, both by location of birth, and his mother’s citizenship.
That makes seeing his REAL birth certificate crucial to knowing his eligibility.
There are so many theories going around I can’t keep them straight. Some are saying his parents weren’t married and that he was born in Kenya. My point was in that instance, he would be a natural born US citizen. It doesn’t make sense that an unwed mother could have a US citizen child born in a foreign country, but a married mother couldn’t if she was under 19. That is strange.
I did in FACT answer it to his satisfaction. At least he was satisfied with the answer. I really don’t think he’d want you speaking from him, but...
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.
If you read the entire paragraph is doesn’t say “a citizen of the United States” “period”. It says “a citizen..., at the time of the adoption of this Constitution.”
You are welcome to go back and read it again.
It doesn’t say you can be President if you are “a citizen of the United States”. It also doesn’t JUST say “natural born”.
Just in case you STILL can’t figure it out, I would define “natural born CITIZEN” (which is what the Constitution actually says), as one who has their U.S. citizenship established by birth. Whether it is by being born to TWO citizens (who were also born here), or by being born in the United States by two citizens whose citizenship has been established by other means.
In other words, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s children will be “natural born citizens”, but if a visiting dignitary’s wife has a child while in the U.S. on a visit, and the dignitary and his wife don’t want to be naturalized, then their child is NOT a “natural born citizen.”
Sorry that was so hard for you.
Yeah. It’s the law. Sometimes.
The idea being that if the mother has chosen to marry a foreign national and live in Foreignationalistan, her clear intent is to raise the kid as a Foreignationalistani, not as an American.
Stanley Ann married not one but TWO Foreignationalistanis and raised Barry Soetoro in Indonesia, while assuring the neighbors that he was Irian, and therefore a native born Indonesian.
Her intent was pretty clearly not for him to be or think of himself as an American.
It looks like you are ignoring the 14th amendment. Would a 100% loyal American who loves this country beyond all else not count if he was born in Miami, and his parents were Cuban?
That's what you said, isn't it?
That isn't what the constitution says. Even without the 14th amendment.
Natural born is never defined.
“a citizen..., at the time of the adoption of this Constitution.”
So to be president you'd need to be 225 years old? Tough crowd...
“It looks like you are ignoring the 14th amendment. Would a 100% loyal American who loves this country beyond all else not count if he was born in Miami, and his parents were Cuban?”
Ahhh. Now we’re getting into the territory of whether illegal alien’s children should be granted citizenship.
In a word “no”.
Special dispensation is made for Cuban exiles, and the argument can be made that they ARE U.S. Citizens.
“That’s what you said, isn’t it? “
No, not at all.
“That isn’t what the constitution says. Even without the 14th amendment. “
What isn’t what the Constitution says? You asked me to define “natural born” (citizen), and I told you how I would define it.
“Natural born is never defined. “
Except by half a dozen different government agencies. Immigration has rules about citizenship, DOD adopts those same rules, the State Department probably has their own rules. In them, they probably don’t have a glossary, but they have rules governing it.
““a citizen..., at the time of the adoption of this Constitution.”
So to be president you’d need to be 225 years old? Tough crowd...”
Yeah, especially for vaccuous twits.
I’m sorry you think that’s what that means. I can only hope you’re just pretending to be that inane.
Henry Kissinger, too, I think he was naturalized not “natural”.
The ramifications of no eligibility is a torpedo.
The fraudulent documents and representation is a 20mm shell.
The Ayers connection is a 50BMG.
Keep up the good fight.
I read something last night (actually, early this morning)her on FR about a newspaper in India or Pakistan that had found a birth certificate for a Barak Obama who was born in the Mombasa Maternity Hospital at or about the same time he was being born in Hawaii. I was kinda groggy at the time so I could have gotten it screwed up. Since I haven’t been able to find anything else about it since then I have to think it was either me seeing things or some sort of false claim. If anybody else saw it though, it might be worth looking into.
In a word “no”.
Agreed. But that is the law and we have to live with it. (At least until it is repealed, if it ever is)
Special dispensation is made for Cuban exiles, and the argument can be made that they ARE U.S. Citizens.
Ummmm, not quite. With dry feet, they cannot be deported back to Cuba. They still need to become naturalized to be US citizens.
Besides, why should Cubans be so special, hmmmm?
You asked me to define “natural born” (citizen), and I told you how I would define it.
Yes. But you never actually did define it except to give a circular definition, What you said boils down to: natural born means natural born.
Except by half a dozen different government agencies. Immigration has rules about citizenship, DOD adopts those same rules, the State Department probably has their own rules. In them, they probably don’t have a glossary, but they have rules governing it.
Muddying the issue by deliberately confounding the rules for "citizenship" with being "natural born" doesn't help.
Yeah, especially for vaccuous twits.
Hey, you were the one that quoted it as if it was applicable in this election cycle, you even emphasized it as if it was crucially important today.
I’m sorry you think that’s what that means.
The whole point is that I DO NOT know what "natural born" means, and neither do you. If you did, you could give an actual definition, rather than parroting a sentence that contains the phrase without actually defining it.
I think the Founding Fathers intended that any future president be UNQUESTIONABLY an American, first, foremost, unambiguously and without any hint of divided loyalties.
The current debate is jus soli vs jus sanguinis. Does it suffice to be born on American Soil, or be born from American Blood?
If I got a vote, a president would need BOTH.
Yes, that would mean a good and loyal man would not qualify.
Yes, it might mean a total cur would.
The Founding Fathers hoped the voters would stop the latter. Frankly, having seen modern voters, I'm not so sure.
“Stanley Ann was married to Barrak Sr.”
There’s some question about that too. She was 18 at the time and had supposedly married Barrak but (again) there doesn’t seem to be any official record of that marraige.
Thank you.
I wish I could be more certain that winning this battle wouldn’t lose the war.
Yeah. This guy is a real pig-in-a-poke. Nothing about him is straightforward or clear.
He's the perfect democrat, as slippery as an eel no matter where or how you try to grab.
But this provision is irrelevant to our discussion here.
The phrase my HS sweetheart used was “Agreeing with each other at the top of their lungs”...
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