Hatch Wants Naturalized Citizens to Be Eligible for Presidency

C-SPAN "Washington Journal" | 08-19-03 | Theodore R.

[Theodore R.]

On Tuesday's C-SPAN "Washington Journal," hosted by Paul Orgle, it was noted that Senate Judiciary Chairman Orrin G. Hatch, R-UT, favors legislation that would permit a naturalized citizen of at least 20 years to seek the presidency or vice presidency as well. Hatch is said to think it discriminatory that the Constitution limits the two highest offices to "natural born" citizens.

Hatch's proposal presumably would require a constitutional amendment.

However, the report seemed to say (and I could have missed the essence of it) that Hatch thought he make an end run around the Constitution with legislation. Similarly, liberals who support statehood for the District of Columbia say that such a change could also be accomplished without a constitutional amendment.

Hatch's proposal apparently is an outgrowth of the gubernatorial candidacy of liberal Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger in CA. Schwarzenegger, an Austrian by birth, is ineligible to be considered for the presidency or the vice presidency.

Schwarzenegger is a nephew by marriage of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-MA. Hatch, who was first elected as a conservative in 1976, is known for his close friendship with Kennedy, his long-time colleague on the Judiciary Committee.

Hatch has frequently stirred fear among conservatives. In 1998, he "begged" President Clinton to "come clean" on the Monica Lewinsky affair. A year later, he was ambivalent in the impeachment trial that came before the Senate though he finally voted to convict Clinton on both counts against him.

Hatch is also known as a strong supporter of open-borders immigration.

In 2000, he briefly sought the GOP presidential nomination, only to bow out in favor of George W. Bush.

[ckilmer]

last time hatch dabbled with constitution it was on patent law. he about sold out the country to japanese.

[glock rocks]

But the people of UT think he can walk across the Great Salt Lake!

the lake is low and thick enough, he probably can.

[Paulus Invictus]

You are wrong. It was Spector who cited the "Scotch Law." Check your sources.

[Bikers4Bush]

He's an illegal lover who will skirt the constitution with legislation if he can figure out how.

That makes him a traitor.

[CaptRon]

Just no.

[BlazingArizona]

That means I'd be able to run. Hatch might want to reconsider.

[montag813]

Hatch is a traitor to the Republicans.

By pushing for open borders, Orrin Hatch is a traitor to ALL Americans.

[Bikers4Bush]

That too, but the left wouldn't see it that way.

[RicocheT]

I'd rather Hatch and Co. made and end around the Democrats and get Bush's judicial nominees on the bench. Time to get tough!

[ClearBlueSky]

I posted an article from the Mobile Register about this several days ago. Some thought the Hatch business( because it was tied to the Schwarzenegger campaign news) was just so much talk. Looks like he's serious. I wish I were confident enough to say his amendment would never happen; but then we've all seen a LOT that we thought would never happen- haven't we?

[montag813]

IMHO, this proposal is DOA.

Not so fast. Democrats want this Amendment for (Canadian-born) Jennifer Granholm, the Michigan Governor and rising party star. If Arnold wins, it will be proposed in Congress.

[Rytwyng]

The Founding Fathers limited the highest office to a natural-born citizen because they knew their Bible:

Deuteronomy 17:14-15
14 When you enter the land the LORD your God is giving you and have taken possession of it and settled in it, and you say, "Let us set a king over us like all the nations around us,"
15 be sure to appoint over you the king the LORD your God chooses. He must be from among your own brothers. Do not place a foreigner over you, one who is not a brother Israelite.

Anyone who believes that God is wiser than mankind, ought to resist Hatch's proposal.

[Arthur McGowan]

But there are emanations from the penumbras of the 14th, 13th, 4th, 5th, and 8th Amendments that undoubtedly make it unconstitutional to limit the Presidency to natural born citizens.

[CyberAnt]

NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!! Hello .. does anybody hear America - NO, WE SAID NO!!!

[goldstategop]

Yes, but Hillary will NEVER go for it. She does NOT want have Arnold mess up her White House plans.

[King Prout]

Bad idea - has this man never heard of "sleepers"???

[sergeantdave]

Do people in Utah really vote for this guy, or does Hatch control the voting machines?

[VMI70]

"He votes straight Republican,..."

Wow! What an endorsement. So that he votes straight Republican makes him OK? I think not. By definition, it simply makes him a mindless robot.

[King Prout]

But there are emanations from the penumbras of the 14th, 13th, 4th, 5th, and 8th Amendments...

technicolor yawn. turboyak. round-trip meal-ticket.

I'm currently up to my eyeballs in the majority opinions of RvW, trying to develop a constitutional argument for why it should be overturned, and that phrase just sickens me.