My Evolution Through The Obama Birth Certificate Controversy

The Obama Birth Certificate Controversy -
My Journey From Ignorant To Informed

Please bear with me through this entire journey. At first I thought Obama was legal then, as I dug deeper into the subject, I realized he isn't, no matter if he was born in Hawaii. The man in the White House is not a legal sitting President, moreover, he knows it, and here's why:

The Obama Birth Certificate Controversy - Part I

Part I -- What constitutes a status of "natural-born citizen"?

From the U.S. Code Online via GPO Access

[www.gpoaccess.gov]

[Laws in effect as of January 3, 2007]

[CITE: 8USC1401]

[Page 396-398]

TITLE 8--ALIENS AND NATIONALITY

CHAPTER 12--IMMIGRATION AND NATIONALITY

SUBCHAPTER III--NATIONALITY AND NATURALIZATION

Part I--Nationality at Birth and Collective Naturalization

Sec. 1401. Nationals and citizens of United States at birth

The following shall be nationals and citizens of the United States at birth:

[...]

     (g) a person born outside the geographical limits of the United States and its outlying possessions of parents one of whom is an alien, and the other a citizen of the United States who, prior to the birth of such person, was physically present in the United States or its outlying possessions for a period or periods totaling not less than five years, at least two of which were after attaining the age of fourteen years:[...]

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The above is from the Naturalization Act, codified in the United States Code, and in effect as of this writing.

The Obama Birth Certificate Controversy -- Part II

Part II -- What constitutes a status of "natural-born citizen"?

The text from Part I is from the Naturalization Act, codified in the United States Code, and in effect as of this writing.

Now here is where the controversy starts to get very muddled, people seem to have glommed onto the text of the 1940 Naturalization Act, Chapter II--Nationality At Birth, which read differently:

     (g) A person born outside the United States and its outlying possessions of parents one of whom is a citizen of the United States who, prior to the birth of such person, has had ten years' residence in the United States or one of its outlying possessions, at least five of which were after attaining the age of sixteen years, the other being an alien: Provided, That, in order to retain such citizenship, the child must reside in the United States or its outlying possessions for a period or periods totaling five years between the ages of thirteen and twenty-one years: Provided further, That, if the child has not taken up residence in the United States or its outlying possessions by the time he reaches the age of sixteen years, or if he resides abroad for such a time that it becomes impossible for him to complete the five years' residence in the United States or its outlying possessions before reaching the age of twenty-one years, his American citizenship shall thereupon cease.
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The Obama Birth Certificate Controversy - Part III

Part III -- What constitutes a status of "natural-born citizen"?

The section of the 1940 Naturalization Act quoted in Part II is what is referenced to prove the argument that Obama is not a natural-born citizen. However, the 1940 Naturalization Act was revised by the 1952 Naturalization Act, page 285, (g) to its present form as found in the current United States Code:

              

     (g) a person born outside the geographical limits of the United States and its outlying possessions of parents one of whom is an alien, and the other a citizen of the United States who, prior to the birth of such person, was physically present in the United States or its outlying possessions for a period or periods totaling not less than five years, at least two of which were after attaining the age of fourteen years:
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So there it is. The intriguing argument that Obama is not a natural-born citizen and his birth certificate will prove it has struck out. The assertion that both of his parents must be United States citizens is incorrect all the way around, according to any version of the Naturalization Act (strike one). The argument that he was actually born in Kenya doesn't matter, as it wouldn't necessarily prevent Obama from being a valid natural-born citizen of the United States (strike two). Finally, the more convoluted argument that his mother who, although a United States citizen, was not old enough to qualify her son as also being a citizen, is taken from an out-dated version of the Naturalization Act (from 1940) that is no longer valid (strike three).

According to the Naturalization Act as it has existed from 1952 until current, even if he was born in Kenya, his mother fulfilled the requirements to grant natural-born citizenship to her son. Only if she renounced her American citizenship before Obama was born would he not be a legal citizen of the United States.

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But, wait, I was wrong above, it's not over! There's more!

The Obama Birth Certificate Controversy - Part IV

Some new facts have come to my attention concerning the Obama Birth Certificate controversy. These facts stem from the meaning of the phrase "natural-born citizen" as understood by our Founding Fathers at the time of the writing of our United States Constitution. They used as their guide Vattel's Law of Nations (1758).

Quoting from that source on the subject of "Citizens and natives":


VATTEL: THE LAW OF NATIONS

BOOK I.
OF NATIONS CONSIDERED IN THEMSELVES.

CHAP. XIX.
OF OUR NATIVE COUNTRY, AND SEVERAL THINGS THAT RELATE TO IT.

§ 212. Citizens and natives.

The citizens are the members of the civil society; bound to this society by certain duties, and subject to its authority, they equally participate in its advantages. The natives, or natural-born citizens, are those born in the country, of parents who are citizens. As the society cannot exist and perpetuate itself otherwise than by the children of the citizens, those children naturally follow the condition of their fathers, and succeed to all their rights. The society is supposed to desire this, in consequence of what it owes to its own preservation; and it is presumed, as matter of course, that each citizen, on entering into society, reserves to his children the right of becoming members of it. The country of the fathers is therefore that of the children; and these become true citizens merely by their tacit consent. We shall soon see whether, on their coming to the years of discretion, they may renounce their right, and what they owe to the society in which they were born. I say, that, in order to be of the country, it is necessary that a person be born of a father who is a citizen; for, if he is born there of a foreigner, it will be only the place of his birth, and not his country.
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So, the question must be asked: Is the original intent of the Framers of our Constitution still in effect? The Naturalization Act is not a formal Constitutional Amendment, though it is the law of record concerning the subject of citizenship.

The Founders would not have considered Obama a "natural-born citizen", therefore, today should we, or should we not? This seems like a conundrum only the Supreme Court can finally decide... and they have not, to date, ruled on it.

[[NOTE: I was wrong on the above, the Supreme Court has ruled on that in the past, but that's another post.]]


Oh, and as a further point, why is Obama's father's race listed as "African" on Obama's Birth Certificate? According to Vital Statistics Of The United States  1961  Volume I--Natality, Page 231:

Race and color

Births in the United States in 1961 are classified for vital statistics into white, Negro, American Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Aleut, Eskimo, Hawaiian and Part-Hawaiian (combined), and "other nonwhite." The category "white" includes, in addition to persons reported as "white," those reported as Mexican or Puerto Rican. With one exception, a reported mixture of Negro with any other race is included in the Negro group; other mixed parentage is classified according to the race of the nonwhite parent and mixtures of nonwhite races to the race of the father. The exception refers to a mixture of Hawaiian and any other race, which is classified as Part-Hawaiian. In most tables a less detailed classification of "white" and "nonwhite" is used.

The Obama Birth Certificate Controversy - Part V

The Founders' definition of "Natural-Born Citizen"

The phrase "natural-born" was coined by Vattel, and Vattel's works were in print and well-known years before the time of the writing of the Constitution.

John Jay (who became the first Supreme Court Justice) wrote George Washington concerning Jay's fears over the need for the unquestioned loyalty to our nation, and our nation alone, of any future Presidents. For this reason, Jay stated the need that future prospective Presidents be "natural-born citizens": those who could claim *both* jus sanguinis *and* jus soli, a requirement unique to only Presidents and Vice-Presidents.

Jay wanted not just jus sanguinis... (citizen by blood, both parents being citizens, which was enough to grant natural-born status to common citizens, no matter where they were born)... but jus soli (citizen by soil, born on U.S. soil) as well, a double-proof citizenship that insured a status of "natural-born citizen", not just "citizen".

This was a unique requirement specifically and only for any prospective President or Vice-President. The Naturalization Act is nonapplicable to this unique designation for the purposes of determining the eligibility of those seeking the office of President or Vice-President.

That's why it was necessary, in 2008 S. Res. 511, to clarify the Presidential eligibility of McCain and others like him who were born to military parents, both of whom were citizens, but stationed during military service on foreign soil at the time of the prospective President's birth. If not, McCain, and any others like him born of citizen parents while serving on foreign soil, would not have met the requirements of jus soli. Such an amendment would not have been needed if the Naturalization Act definition of "natural-born citizen" applied to potential United States Presidents.

Interestingly, Obama was a sponsor of that bill. In the bill it states:

Whereas such limitations would be inconsistent with the purpose and intent of the `natural born Citizen' clause of the Constitution of the United States, as evidenced by the First Congress's own statute defining the term `natural born Citizen';

Therefore, no matter jus soli, which is in hot debate, Obama fails on the first, jus sanguinis, because of his father's alien status as a British subject... and Obama knows it.

Both Franklin and Washington were familiar with Vattel. See:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emerich_de_Vattel

(I have archived a copy of the above page.)

As a further proof that the Framers of the Constitution used Vattel's Law of Nations we need look no further than the Constitution itself, which states under Section 8 -- Powers of Congress:

To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offenses against the Law of Nations;

 From the above, it's obvious our Founding Fathers intended to uphold The Law of Nations, as codified by Vattel.
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So, that's it then. Obama's not eligible to be President, according to the original intent of the Framers of The Constitution of The United States of America. Unfortunately, neither is Marco Rubio, and that's a shame.

It all hinges around the word "natural". The very God-given "nature" of a thing isn't determined by man-made laws. Like gravity, it's granted through a natural process of just being what it is, no matter if the laws of man agree with it or not, because the laws of man have no power over it one way or the other. A "Natural-Born Citizen" is "natural" because his parents were both citizens living in their own country at the time of his birth, so he was "naturally" born there. It's that simple... and, apparently, these days, that complicated.


SFWhite