What Happens After the Obama Lawsuits
To date, there are a number of Secretary of State and two Supreme Court lawsuits attempting to press legal authorities to order the President-elect to reveal his original, “vault,” long-copy birth certificate. But what happens after all of the lawsuits are completed, regardless of their respective outcomes? How do we ensure that this issue never becomes an issue again?
I originally opined in a previous post (Background Check All Candidates For Federal Office?) about how it would be unconstitutional to require all candidates for federal office to submit themselves to a “Top Secret”-level security clearance as a prerequisite for ballot eligibility. However, there is something much simpler that could be done, and it would be precisely in line with the Constitution.
In Article 2, Section 1, we read the following:
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. [constitution.org]
My background check post outlines why having a full-fledged security clearance is not of absolute necessity for incoming candidates; our system is already reasonably set up to handle such political novices. Further, prima facia evidence — simply by a cursory observational inspection — can also help authorities determine if someone is “of age;” in this case, at least 35 years old, as well as having resided within the US for 14 years. Yet, one thing has been lacking — a process put in place to require an original birth certificate to be produced for any candidate seeking office.
Since making a federal requirement for a birth certificate would be met with significant resistance (and, potentially, requiring a constitutional amendment), I propose making this happen at the State level. Why? Because of the following two reasons:
- It would take only one State to stop an ineligible candidate in their tracks from proceeding any further, thereby causing other States to take notice;
- The Constitution only stipulates that a person (candidate) must be a “natural born citizen” and does not stipulate how to determine this; let’s remember what the Tenth Amendment (12th Article of the Bill of Rights) stipulates in this regard:
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
Therefore, since the Constitution does not stipulate that the federal government makes a determination in how to make this determination, it is, by definition, a requirement and obligation that the States or the People must do so
So, where do we start? Pennsylvania offers some hope in this regard. If “We the People” can encourage our respective State Legislators to draw up bills that require candidates (especially those for the Presidency) to furnish their full, original birth certificates for eligibility, I think we will be able to go a long way in setting up a reasonable process that keeps our country that much safer from potentially undue foreign influence.
-Phil
[...] [...]
Phil,
This is right in line with my own thinking. I'm still trying to verify whether or not there is a process that establishes the eligibility of presidential candidates, but my feeling is that I'm going to find that no such process exists.
I, too, would like to begin working with my State Legislature on passing a law requiring the SoS to verify that a candidate is eligible before placing them on the ballot. Are you planning on organizing this type of effort? It would be helpful to have a group of like-minded people to go through this with – I'm sure there will be many challenges along the way.
Please contact me at juriggs@yahoo.com and let me know if there are or aren't plans for an organized approach to your suggestion.
Sincerely,
Justin W. Riggs
Justin,
Please see My Thought: What Happens After the Obama Lawsuits for my take on what you're describing. I have similarly been keeping the Top Stories: PA Candidate Eligibility Bill Post available for a practical example of how to keep this situation from occurring again, going forward.
I will similarly be sending you a copy of this comment to your comment via your email.
-Phil
[...] As I said in another posting, I think this is the first step to shoring up this inadequacy in the system. [...]
[...] What Happens After the Obama Lawsuits Obama and Selective Service: Another Fraud? [...]
I’m working with the citizen initiative on http://www.democratic-disaster.com. This is a great initiative, but while I am working on this, I am discovering some pitbull/puma tendencies within myself. Why?
Because in my day job, I am responsible for hiring qualified people into my department. They have to provide college transcripts and go thru back ground checks. They will not have nearly the level of responsibility or personal reward as this person the general public elected.
Is that not insane??? yes I am growling.
To be sure, I am formulating a letter to my own state legislators, to follow the example of Pennsylvania.