Supreme Court justices will discuss challenge to Obama's citizenship Friday
Though it writes that the legal action has "little chance of succeeding," the Chicago Tribune notes that Supreme Court justices will sit down tomorrow to "take up a lawsuit challenging President-elect Barack Obama's U.S. citizenship."
At issue is the contention of some Obama opponents that he either wasn't born a U.S. citizen or that at one point as a child he gave up his citizenship. The arguments have been dismissed by lower courts and well as by Obama and his aides.
The nonpartisan FactCheck.org reported earlier this year that its researchers "have now seen, touched, examined and photographed the original birth certificate. We conclude that it meets all of the requirements from the State Department for proving U.S. citizenship."
Another nonpartisan fact-checking outfit, PolitiFact.com, reached the same conclusion.
Justice Clarence Thomas submitted the case, Donofrio v. Wells, for the court's consideration.
Posted by Mark Memmott at 01:58 PM/ET, December 04, 2008 in Election law
USA TODAY Online
http://blogs.usatoday.com/onpolitics/
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Supreme Court Not Considering Obama's Birth Certificate Case
By Michael Kraskin
Dec 5th 2008 8:48AM
Filed Under:eBarack Obama, Breaking News, Supreme Court
Today is the day that all the Barack Obama birth certificate conspiracy theorists--or "birthers," as they're known in some circles*--have been waiting for. Yes, at long last, it's Birth Certificate Day at the Supreme Court! Time for the highest court in the land to settle this dispute once and all.
Or so the "birthers" would like to believe.
They're a tad mistaken, though. That's because the authenticity question over of Obama's birthplace document has all ready been put to rest innumerable times.
No, the question before the court today is not whether Obama was born in the U.S., it's whether that birth makes him a natural born citizen. The argument brought by Leo Donofrio goes like this:
"Don't be distracted by the birth certificate and Indonesia issues. They are irrelevant to Senator Obama's ineligibility to be President. Since Barack Obama's father was a Citizen of Kenya and therefore subject to the jurisdiction of the United Kingdom at the time of Senator Obama's birth, then Senator Obama was a British Citizen 'at birth', just like the Framers of the Constitution, and therefore, even if he were to produce an original birth certificate proving he were born on US soil, he still wouldn't be eligible to be President.
The Framers of the Constitution, at the time of their birth, were also British Citizens and that's why the Framers declared that, while they were Citizens of the United States, they themselves were not "natural born Citizens".
Got it? The argument is that even if he was born in the U.S., his daddy was an immigrant, so he can't be president. Donofrio in fact "concedes Mr. Obama was born in Hawaii."
Also, the Supreme Court isn't hearing the case, they are deciding whether to hear the case.
So, sorry birthers, no closure for you today. But hey, just for fun, here's a poll.
http://news.aol.com/political-machine/2 ... cate-case/
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December 5, 2008
Supreme Court Silent on Obama Birth Certificate Lawsuit
The Supreme Court made no announcement today whether or not it will hear Donofrio v. Wells, the lawsuit challenging the election based on Barack Obama's release - or alleged lack thereof - of his official birth certificate and his citizenship status. (The court did decide to hear two cases, one of which is the case of Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri, an Al Qaeda combatant seized on American soil.) Of course, there's no guarantee the Court will ever actually issue any statement on the Obama case since it was simply petitioned to the court and, along with hundreds of other cases, could be dismissed without any comment at all. But as Frank James, over at The Swamp, says, "the lack of an announcement doesn't mean the court definitely won't hear Donofrio." So either we will or we won't. Hmm.
Meanwhile, our comrades at our sister site DCist scoped out a protest held by supporters of the Donofrio cause at the Supreme Court this morning led by Roger Bredow, who claims Obama has duel citizenship.
The Supreme Court will announce whether it will actually consider the Obama lawsuit as early as today and as late as Monday. If (as expected) the Court tosses the suit, Bredow will start challenging Obama's legitimacy based on "foreign money that went into his campaign." Other protestors said they'd start contacting members of the Electoral College. Steve Brindle, who drove down from Pennsylvania, said he'd called his senators yesterday.
"There aren't a lot of people out here today," said Brindle. "There are a lot of people talking about this back home. Really, everyone's asking questions."
Of course, only 15 to 20 people showed so...yeah.
Either way, nothing will ever outweigh the rage we felt this morning when we read that Obama has allegedly chosen a Zune over an iPod. We're whipping up a petition as we speak and expect a protest very, very soon.
http://chicagoist.com/2008/12/05/no_wor ... _obama.php