Re-examining the Constitution's Presidential Eligibility Clause

Virginia Law
By Professor G. Edward White

Despite discussions in the media, the claim by so-called "birthers" that Barack Obama is ineligible to be president because of his "non-American" birth is not supported by any credible documentation.

There is, however, another dimension of the Obama birthplace issue that merits discussion. The issue surfaced, of course, because where Obama was born affected his eligibility to become president under the Constitution. The relevant constitutional provision, Article II, Section I, Clause 4 (the presidential eligibility clause), states that:

“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.â€