ANY CONSTITUTIONAL LAWYERS OUT THERE? CAN A PERSON WITH DUAL CITIZENSHIP, LIKE BARACK OBAMA, BE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES?

Posted by sandstone on Aug 9, 2008 in 2008 Election, Barack Obama, Congress, Culture, Democratic National Committee, Democrats, John McCain, LIFE, RANDOM, Uncategorized, cable networks, political party, politics |

The answer to this question remains unclear to me.

The Rocky Mountain News is reporting Obama has held dual citizenship since 1963. For many months the blogosphere has been a buzz with numerous posts about Obama’s birth certificate, questioning its validity, and in turn posing the question of whether Obama meets the eligibility requirements as listed in the Constitution.

I did a nanosecond of research and found this definition from ASK.com. It doesn’t do much to clarify the question. It states:

Only native-born U.S. citizens (or those born abroad, but only to parents who were both citizens (emphasis mine because aren’t there a questions surrounding Barack’s father) of the U.S. may be president of the United States, though from time to time that requirement is called into question, most recently after Arnold Schwarzenegger, born in Austria, was elected governor of California, in 2003. The Constitution originally provided a small loophole to this provision: One needn’t have been born in the United States but had to be a citizen at the time the Constitution was adopted. But, since that occurred in 1789, that ship has sailed.

Reading this definition it appears Arnold Schwarzenegger is eligible for president, but I thought that naturalized citizens are prohibited from seeking the highest office in the land and therefore Arnold need not apply.

So, are there any learned persons out there that can clarify these questions?

Is a person eligible for the office of president of the United States if they hold dual citizenship?
Is this a contestable constitutional issue?

I welcome comments and clarification to these questions!!!!!!

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Tags: Barack Obama, DUAL CITIZENSHIP, Rocky Mountain News, The Consititution

10 Comments

Laura says:

November 24, 2009 at 9:00 pm

Maybe if we could trust the media and the government to do it’s job then we wouldn’t have to turn to the internet. There are questions that people are refusing to answer. That makes me nervous and I don’t like the absolute refusal the American people are getting.
I’m sure if there was something to be found Hillary Clinton and her team would have found it. For me it is principle and the fact he will not show us. It makes me feel like if it isn’t his citizenship then what is he hiding that he doesn’t want the American people to know.

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Mitie1 says:

July 14, 2009 at 4:45 am

Scott
November 16, 2008 at 10:54 am

“Indonesia’s rules on dual citizenship apply to adults only.”

From the US Dept. of State, International travel info:
“In July 2006 the Indonesian Parliament passed new legislation allowing children under age 18 to maintain a foreign nationality as well as Indonesian citizenship.”

So up until 2006 it also applied to children

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NOT ANOTHER BERG V. OBAMA UPDATE - OPPOSING VIEWS « Hillary and Me says:

January 4, 2009 at 11:56 am

[...] to Comments If you have been following the Obama “natural born citizen” drama since August, when I first posed the question of whether or not BHO could hold the office of POTUS, you are most [...]

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Scott says:

November 16, 2008 at 10:54 am

Indonesia’s rules on dual citizenship apply to adults only. Obama did not lose his US citizenship because only an adult can renounce his citizenship. Same with Kenya. His dual citizenship in either country automatically expired. He does not hold duel citizenship and his US citizenship never expired.

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PROOF - OBAMA’S ACKNOWLEDGED DUAL CITIZENSHIP MEANS NEVER ELIGIBLE TO BE POTUS - INFO ALWAYS IN PLAIN SIGHT « Hillary and Me says:

November 15, 2008 at 11:28 pm

[...] Jump to Comments Well here we are boys ‘n girls, coming full circle to where we were in August 9th when I first queried about Obama’s dual citizenship; fully acknowledged on his own [...]

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Zee says:

October 11, 2008 at 12:31 am

To Dagger53:
You stated that the government of Indonesia confirmed that he (Obama) was an Indonesian through adoption and lost his U.S. citizenship through adoption. Is this your theory or do you have proof of this? I am trying to research the passport/Obama issue and the web is thick with possibilities and theories. I wondered if you know for a fact, with proof, that Obama lost his U.S. citizenship through adoption. Thanks, I look forward to hearing from you.
Zee

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dagger53 says:

October 9, 2008 at 7:12 pm

In 1961 Kenya was ruled by the British and therefore Obama would have fallen under the British laws of the time.

There is another question of his citizenship regarding Indonesia.

When Obama was adopted as a minor, he automatically assumed his adopted father’s citizenship through Indonesian law. In Indonesia, they do not allow dual citizenship.

In order to attend any elementary school in Indonesia, they only allowed Indonesians to attend because the country did not allow for any dual citizenships.

Every student who registered to attend school, was verified by the government of Indonesia that they only had Indonesian citizenship.

The government of Indonesia confirmed that he was an Indonesian through adoption and lost his U.S. citizenship through adoption.

He may have also never re-registered to take an oath to renew his citizenship as an adult.

During the early 80’s Obama traveled to Pakistan. There was a no fly zone to Pakistan during the early 80’s.

Obama most likely used his Indonesian passport to fly to Pakistan because U.S. citizens where not allowed to fly to Pakistan during the early 80’s.

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sportsone234 says:

August 10, 2008 at 7:03 pm

Bud:

No, I don’t believe everything I read on the Internet, which is precisely the reason I brought up the question.

Your information about Kenya’s constitution, while interesting may or may not be true. I have no way of knowing, but importantly it begs the question originally asked.

Does the US Constitution allow for dual citizenship? Forget Obama for a moment, I think this is an important question.

What if we had a person running for president that held dual citizenship in Russia and the US. I know this is an extreme example, one which I’m not sure is possible. But, what if it were?

Would you want a person in control of the most powerful nation on earth with conceivably mixed emotions or divided loyalties making life and death decisions that effect the people of this country?

Again, I ask the question, what does our Constitution say about the presidency and dual citizenship?

It’s an interesting question.

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Bud says:

August 10, 2008 at 6:36 am

Do you believe everything that you see on the Internet? It’s an obvious mistake by some rookie at the Rocky Mountain News Service.

First, Obama is not a dual citizen of Kenya. There are some wing nuts out there trying to spread this rumor but that dog wont hunt. He’s never been qualified to be a citizen of Kenya.

As Section 90 of the Constitution of Kenya states that:-

A Person born outside Kenya AFTER (emphasis added) 11th December, 1963 shall become a citizen of Kenya at the date of his/her birth if at that date his/her father was a citizen of Kenya.

Do the math, Obama was born in 1961, making him unqualified for citizenship under this law. See for yourself:

http://www.kenyahighcommission.net/passports.html

For anyone who wants to further belabor the point:

The Kenya Constitution Section 97 (1) (6) (a) states that:

Any person who, upon the attainment of the age of twenty-one years, is a citizen of Kenya and also a citizen of another country other than Kenya shall cease to be a citizen of Kenya upon the specified date (6)(a) that is: twenty-three (23) years.

Even if at some point Obama’s father applied for citizenship (which has never been suggested or shown to be true), he would have lost it at age 23, since he was born.

Let the wing nuts play their rumor games, but McCain is not going to make it in 2008, and will crash just like “Mr. Viagra” Bob Dole crashed in 1996.

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