The Supreme Court has turned down an emergency appeal from a New Jersey man who says President-elect Barack Obama is ineligible to be president because he was a British subject at birth.
The court did not comment on its order Monday rejecting the call by Leo Donofrio of East Brunswick, N.J., to intervene in the presidential election.
Donofrio says that since Obama had dual nationality at birth — his mother was American and his Kenyan father at the time was a British subject — he cannot possibly be a “natural born citizen,” one of the requirements the Constitution lists for eligibility to be president.
Donofrio also contends that two other candidates, Republican John McCain and Socialist Workers candidate Roger Calero, also are not natural-born citizens and thus ineligible to be president.
At least one other appeal over Obama’s citizenship remains at the court. Philip J. Berg of Lafayette Hill, Pa., argues that Obama was born in Kenya, not Hawaii as Obama says and the Hawaii secretary of state has confirmed.
Berg says Obama also may be a citizen of Indonesia, where he lived as a boy. Federal courts in Pennsylvania have dismissed Berg’s lawsuit. Federal courts in Ohio and Washington state have rejected similar lawsuits.
Allegations raised on the Internet say the birth certificate, showing that Obama was born in Hawaii on Aug. 4, 1961, is a fake.
But state officials in Hawaii say they checked health department records and have determined there’s no doubt Obama was born in Hawaii.
(Source: Yahoo News / Associated Press)
17 Responses
If the man has legitimate evidence, let him go to the newspapers with it. Otherwise, his claims can be assumed to be speculative and the Supreme Court won’t hear it. I mean, this is the same Supreme Court that gave the nod to Bush/Cheney in the 2000 election where Gore/Lieberman had the majority vote and Democratic votes in Florida were thrown out/misunderstood, and not permitted to be recast. Had the Jewish communities in Florida been permitted to revote when they discovered they were thought to have voted for Pat Buchanan, it would be a different world now.
“If the man has legitimate evidence, let him go to the newspapers with it.”
ARE YOU KIDDING?
PHILLIP BERG HAS BEEN INTERVIEWED BY ALL THE TALK SHOWS ONHIS LAWSUIT AGAINST OBAMA’S CITIZENSHIP.
THIS COUNTRY NO LONGER RESPECTS ITS OWN CONSTITUTION.
#1 you write a great post but to assume that it would have been a different (better) world now is not necessarily correct. 9-11 still would have happened and with Al Gore at the helm I’m afraid things would be worse not better. I have no bone to pick with Joe Lieberman who has seen the light since 2000 but Al Gore…come on he would have reacted by inviting Jesse Jackson to the White House held hands and prayed instead of attempting to strike back at our enemies as George Bush did.
As for the legitmacy of Obamas citizenship why then has he been hiding behind lawyers and stonewalling for the truth? The SC should decide!
#2,
“THIS COUNTRY NO LONGER RESPECTS ITS OWN CONSTITUTION.”
Really? The entire country? No one respects the constitution? While I agree with you there is terrible disrespect for the constitution and we slip faster and faster into becoming a country with little regard for laws and our culture, where individual agendas are the agenda, I am sure someone, somewhere, would take up the case of this man, if he has legitimate evidence. The Supreme Court did not and I do not think it is based on bias as they favored Bush in 2000 when the facts and logic dictated he would not have won the election if all the votes were fairly counted.
Behind the written laws of the Constitution are of course the well known unwritten laws. These laws are so well known and obvious that we pick them up as children. These unwritten laws are extremely useful in quickly resolving most disputes. It is only when these laws are inappropriate that we need to come on to the courts for adjudication. For example, shnayim oichzim betallis, that goes to court. But if one guy called it first, then he called it and there’s no case.
Similarly, with Obama and Bush, we apply the rule “no backsies”. For better or for worse, there can be no disputing this rule. The SC will only intervene if the evidence is so compelling that it is certain a mekach tu’ois was made. Clearly, there is no good evidence that the birth certificate is fake. Therefore, there is no good reason to sit in court and debate an ambiguous topic. It will always be a matter of opinion whether or not Obama is a “natural born citizen” and the SC will not make a ruling based on an opinion.
And if you want my opinion, it is that had the SC overturned the 2000 election results we would not be hailing Mr. Obama as chief right now. What goes around, comes around. And what’s going around right now I wouldn’t want to catch, but I’ll save that for another day.
The law suit was unworthy of being taken seriously. The constitution never said “native born”, they said “natural” to include the child of American parents born overseas (including military families, such as McCain’s).
Furthermore, the rule that women lose citizenship on marriage to an alien (even if they stay in the US) was rejected a long time ago, so even if Obama’s mother gave birth overseas (of which there is no evidence). he would still be a natural born citizen.
The Supreme Court, except for a few unusual cases such as when states sue each other, does not review the evidence but only the law. The lower courts heard all the documentary claims and rejected them. Given the lower courts’ findings,
there are no legal issues.
The legalities that you touch on, akuperma, are not as straightforward as you say.
Not everyone interprets a child born to US citizens abroad as “natural born”. True, it is a minority opinion but at the very least it would need to be clarified in the law if this were the situation (you could not leave the definition ambiguous if a President fell into that grey area). Plus, his father was not a US citizen so that would add to the complexity.
However, since there is no evidence to the contrary, Obama was for all intents and purposes born in Hawaii, where he would be a natural born citizen even if his parents were both Kenyans. The birth certificate is unchallenged.
akuperma, your knowledge of the constitution is so pathetic that even kindergartners know more than you.
The problem with the lawsuit is that Philip Berg keeps on claiming to have evidence but he never shows it. He goes on radio and says that he does but doesn’t prove why. I read all about it today on newsmax.com
Obama has NEVER produced an authentic birth certificate containing a US hospital name, doctor signature, embossed state seal, and typed with a 1961 typewriter. The “Certification of Live Birth” document posted on the Democrat web sites is NOT a birth certificate, and many experts believe it was fraudulently produced by a Photoshop editor.
Even if Obama produces a valid birth certificate, he would still be ineligible for the presidency as he forfeited his natural born US citizenship when he moved to Indonesia, a country which does not allow dual citizenship – see the well written and credible legal papers on attorney Philip Berg’s site.
It appears Obama has committed the greatest political fraud in American history! Why are Jews allowing themselves to be bamboozled by the fraud Obama? Obama’s ultra-left, pro homo, pro feminist, pro tax, pro PLO terror state agenda is contrary to Torah values and Jewish interests on every issue. Have we chosen liberalism over Judaism and EMES?
Regrettably many Americans, including a lot of Jews are in a complete state of denial. They simply cannot face the harsh reality that a usurper may very likely seize power in the US. We may soon have an illegitimate regime in the US. What this will mean for Jews only G-d knows.
Certainly as Torah observant Jews we are required to observe the law of the land. We should not be rushing to legitimize an Obama regime which very likely has seized power using wholesale fraud and deception.
Flatbush Bubby:
This issue (status of foreign born citizens) has arise numerous other times, and no court has ever rules that “natural born” excludes children of American citizens born abroad. You don’t know your history. The reasons the courts didn’t take the issue seriously (and Senator McCain was clearly born abroad, unlike Mr. Obama for whom no serious person suggests was foreign born), is that they’ve been through it before and aren’t interested in reopening a settled matter.
To add to #9’s comment…why is the certificate # blanked out..if it’s a real copy then why isn’t that there along with the official seal of the State Of Hawaii. I agree it doesn’t look like 1961 quality printing to me ..rather something a computer spit out in 2008….
No akuperma, YOU DO NOT KNOW THE CONSTITUTION, John McCain was born in the Panama Canal Zone which at that time was American territory therefore yes he was a native born citizen. It is clear in the Constitution I forget which Article it is written. It is the one that details what the qualifications of President are. That is the only qualification.
The reason why the courts have not dealt with it is because it is clearly written in the Constitution. Please go Google it and start reading, that with it’s Preamble and the 26 Amendments. And if you are such a Constitutional scholar, where are the “Bill of Rights” written?
it doesnt have that much of a chance
we should not be in the forefront on this issue.there are plenty of conservatives to do it.we should heed the lessons of this weeks parsha
And of course you nfgo are the military expert. He first fought a politically correct war but on the urging of Senator McCain replaced Rumsfeld with Bob Gates who wants to serve in the Obama administration. But, your hatred for George Bush is so blind and your knowledge of Obama is so picuyane that it is useless to talk to you.
#12 actually, the Canal Zone was never US territory, it was Panamanian territory administered by the US. Panamanians born in the Canal Zone, did not become US citizens at birth.
But its irrelevant since the constiution only requires you to be a citizen from birth, as opposed to an alien who is naturalized
if you think it is a good idea for the Supreme Court to take a case in which the Plaintiff asks it to declare that _neither_ major party candidate was qualified to be president, ask yourself: then what would happen?