Attorney in ‘birther’ action jumps into state Senate race
State Rep. Mark Hatfield, who raised eyebrows as the attorney in an effort have the name of President Barack Obama stripped from next Tuesday’s presidential primary ballot, became the first Republican to announce that he’ll seek the Senate seat now occupied by Greg Goggans, R-Douglas.
Goggans, citing economic pressures, has decided not to seek a fifth term in the Senate.
Hatfield, who has feuded with the leadership of House Speaker David Ralston, was drawn into the same district as state Rep. Jason Spence, R-Woodbine, in the last redistricting session.
From Hatfield’s press release:
“I will be running for the Senate to provide conservative, independent leadership for South Georgia,” said Hatfield.
Hatfield will be running in the newly-reconfigured Senate District 7, which includes all of Ware, Coffee, Bacon, Pierce, Atkinson, Ben Hill, Irwin, Atkinson, and Berrien counties, and a portion of both Charlton and Tift counties.
Hatfield has represented large portions of the new Senate District 7 during his time in the House, and he said that uniquely prepares him to represent those same people in the State Senate.
“I know the people of South Georgia want an independent person who stands up for everybody. They want a conservative, pro-life, pro-family senator who stands for his principles even when it is not popular. I have kept that commitment while serving in the House, and I will keep that commitment if elected to the State Senate,” said Hatfield.
Hatfield drew up the complaint filed by a parties who question Obama’s birth in the United States and challenged Secretary of State Brian Kemp’s placement of Obama as the sole name on Tuesday’s Democratic presidential primary ballot. (Hawaiian state officials have provided, time and again, documentation of Obama’s birth.)
An administrative judge recently dismissed the complaint, which Hatfield has appealed to a Fulton County Superior Court judge.
As soon as I posted the above, I went downstairs to the basement of the Legislative Office Building, only to find Hatfield in the snack bar — delighted at being able to escape the dilemma of whether to run against a House colleague. He pointed to this piece in the Waycross Journal-Herald.
- By Jim Galloway, Political Insider
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110 comments Add your comment
Will
February 29th, 2012
1:32 pm
Is this the same “yahoo” who believes Governor Romney and Senator Rubio are not eligible to be President because either they or their parents were not born on American soil?
UGA 1999
February 29th, 2012
1:40 pm
Boring.
td
February 29th, 2012
1:43 pm
If Hatfield decides to run then he will win in his district with more that 60% of the vote.
honested
February 29th, 2012
1:45 pm
Birther nonsense aside, Rep. Hatfield is a stand up guy.
Good luck to him.
JOHN
February 29th, 2012
1:49 pm
Ok.. Jim… who cares!! Why do you liberal keep writing this crap? NOTE TO JIM… OLD NEWS!!!
Old Cracker
February 29th, 2012
1:59 pm
When will someone in the General Assembly finally file and pass a bill requiring cars on state roads to go backwards? When that happens we can REALLY show the rest of the world that we are a state of voters desperately clinging to the past as the world moves forward without us. Good work, Jim, and please keep it up! Your sanity makes me a mite more optimistic.
GET REAL
February 29th, 2012
2:02 pm
Only in America could a nutjob like Hatfield get elected to public office. God help us all !!!!
person
February 29th, 2012
2:03 pm
“(Hawaiian state officials have provided, time and again, documentation of Obama’s birth.)” This statement by Galloway is absolutely and patently FALSE. The original document has NEVER been produced for verification. The copies have been shown to be forgeries. Shame, shame, shame on the AJC.
Carole
February 29th, 2012
2:07 pm
I still wonder how he got in public office i the first place. He truly epitomizes his last name as a feuding hick.
Carole
February 29th, 2012
2:09 pm
person
The original document has NEVER been produced for verification. The copies have been shown to be forgeries. Shame, shame, shame on the AJC.
+++++++
Shown to be forgeries by whom????
local voter
February 29th, 2012
2:12 pm
Well why don’t you report the news instead of trying to influence the otucome. If you going to editorilize then label it as that. Stop trying to be the news and just report it and keep your opinions to yourself. I’m one of those people that voted Mark to go to Atlanta and he looks out for his people. For those of you who may not realize it there is a Georgia outside of the expressways of Atlanta.
tman
February 29th, 2012
2:17 pm
John MCain was born in Panama and no one says anything he ran for president.
Filter
February 29th, 2012
2:19 pm
Only in GEORGIA could a nutjob like Hatfield get elected to public office. God help us all !!!!
Jim Beam
February 29th, 2012
2:19 pm
Jim, I must say reading these post are most interesting. But here is a name for you John Knox, maybe he should run for this senate seat. He is one of the first Republicans elected from that part of the state and not as crazy as Mr. Hatfield.
td
February 29th, 2012
2:23 pm
Filter
February 29th, 2012
2:19 pm
And you think Hatfield is more of a “nutjob” then Cynthia McKinney and she repersented the state in the US congress.
No Longer Republican
February 29th, 2012
2:24 pm
uuuh local voter…this is an opinion column. There is a difference between a news story and a personal column. No wonder people from south Georgia keep electing idiots. Geez
No Longer Republican
February 29th, 2012
2:27 pm
TD you are right Mckinney is on the nutjob train, but Mr. Hatfield is right there with her. He is just ok for you because his stupid ideas and thoughts are alot like yours.
morn
February 29th, 2012
2:27 pm
person, you are an idiot. Only a moron claims the documentation provided by Hawaii is forged. You birthers are the biggest bunch of freaking nutcases that has ever emerged in any country at any time. Go away, far away
UGA 1999
February 29th, 2012
2:27 pm
Filter. Nut jobs like Hank Johnson and Cynthia McKinney?
Anthony
February 29th, 2012
2:29 pm
td, they are both nutjobs in their own way, but I will grant you that McKinney is by far the bigger nutjob. GA is good at electing “looneys” to public office regardless of their party affiliation. We have and have had plenty of idiots serving in the legislature.
WOW
February 29th, 2012
2:31 pm
TD you are correct and I rarely agree with anything you post, McKinney was a nut job and a constant embarrassment to the state.
But Hatfield will be as well, two wrongs don’t make a right.
Denise
February 29th, 2012
2:31 pm
I saw that coming. Anything to get a vote…what’s next?
Mary Margaret
February 29th, 2012
2:32 pm
As a christian, I forgive him.
Michael
February 29th, 2012
2:34 pm
Hope he gets elected as he might be a stand up guy to some, but he is like the Fruitcake Lady to others.
UGA 1999
February 29th, 2012
2:35 pm
WOW……”Will be” and “is” are two very different things.
td
February 29th, 2012
2:36 pm
No Longer Republican
February 29th, 2012
2:27 pm
Did you actually read what Hatfield said? He believes Obama is a citizen and was born in HI and his BC is authentic. His question (and might I add mine as well) was what does the term “Natural born citizen” mean in regard to the President and VP qualifications to hold the office? He believes it to mean that both your parents had to be born in the US for you to be eligible to hole the office. He has also questioned Romney’s and Rubio’s qualifications (so it is not a partisan issue in his mind). Is this really nutty?
Mary Margaret
February 29th, 2012
2:45 pm
Is this really nutty? Is a frog’s arse water tight?
Carole
February 29th, 2012
2:49 pm
td
He believes it to mean that both your parents had to be born in the US for you to be eligible to hole the office. He has also questioned Romney’s and Rubio’s qualifications (so it is not a partisan issue in his mind). Is this really nutty?
+++++++
Yes it is. Because the issue has NEVER come up until now. You state that this is what he BELIEVES. Has he not read all of the arguments regarding the issue on both sides? Why not accept the fact that it’s pretty ambiguous, but no one EVER challenged a president’s right to be that based on this until now. That makes him and his clients nutty.
pb
February 29th, 2012
2:49 pm
tman @ 2:17 pm,
Not that it really matters now, but no once questioned John Mc Cain’s citizenship, because he was born in Panama Canal Zone, then considered a U. S. territory. ( Don’t know if it is now, since U.S gave the canal back to Panama way back when Jimmy Carter was president.) Story about Obama being a citizen or not is a dead issue. Every time “birthers” go to court, they lose. But to them, I suppose that’s part of the “conspiracy.” Makes for some good laughs.
Lars
February 29th, 2012
2:50 pm
“I am a conservative, government-in-every-area-of-your-private-life, but government OUT of regulations which make your life safer, Republican.” Thanks–we need another one of those.
UGA 1999
February 29th, 2012
2:54 pm
Lars…Examples.
WOW
February 29th, 2012
2:56 pm
@ Carole:
Not to mention that its also a waste of court time and taxpayer money, which I thought conservatives were against.
Sterling Smith
February 29th, 2012
2:56 pm
It’s really embarrassing as a native born Georgian living in Illinois to be linked to people like McKinney and Hatfield. Both are prime examples of how extremist beliefs have no place in a sensible society. To read all these post that support nutcakes like Hatfield is so disheartening. I see a future run for govenor for Hatfield……
td
February 29th, 2012
2:57 pm
Carole
February 29th, 2012
2:49 pm
I guess since it has not been questioned in the past then one should never bring up the a Constitutional issue? Sounds a little partisan to me.
Georgia , The "New Mississippi"
February 29th, 2012
2:59 pm
Citizens are going to continue to pay a heavy , heavy price dealing with this GOP Johnny Reb logic.
DannyX
February 29th, 2012
2:59 pm
“Did you actually read what Hatfield said?”
Hatfield’s case was so weak an empty table beat him in court.
UGA 1999
February 29th, 2012
3:02 pm
DannyX….Actually no it is not that easy. Do you know what Hatfield’s arguement was?
Next!
February 29th, 2012
3:03 pm
It’s a shame he’s leaving the House. Anyone smart enough to “feud” with Ralston & Co. should be rewarded with tenure the length of this haphazard speakership.
Mary Margaret
February 29th, 2012
3:06 pm
Why is God not mentioned in the Constitution?
Carole
February 29th, 2012
3:07 pm
td
I guess since it has not been questioned in the past then one should never bring up the a Constitutional issue? Sounds a little partisan to me.
++++++++
It’s not partisan. This is just a waste of time. 1. It has been defeated in court time and again. 2. Because it’s such a convoluted concept there will probably NEVER be a court that will agree to his “belief” about what the term means. But you know what, lawyers don’t necessarily get paid because they win so my hat is off to him for that.
Rick
February 29th, 2012
3:09 pm
tman
February 29th, 2012
2:17 pm
John MCain was born in Panama and no one says anything he ran for president.
And Congress had hearing to determine if he was eligible. As they have on other people who might not be eligible, but not on Obama.
Now you've done it
February 29th, 2012
3:12 pm
Georgia…going backward at warp speed.
td
February 29th, 2012
3:12 pm
Carole
February 29th, 2012
3:07 pm
You are actually incorrect. The Federal courts have not thrown the cases out on the merits but instead because they believe they do not have the jurisdiction to hear the matter without it first going through the state courts (states are the ones that set the rules to get on state ballots). There is only one state court that has heard the issue about the qualifications and rules that “natural born citizen” was the same as citizen.
You do know that the case in Georgia has been appealed to the Superior court in Fulton county?
pb
February 29th, 2012
3:16 pm
td,
Give it a rest… More important things to worry about.
Travis McGee
February 29th, 2012
3:17 pm
Anyone who reads some of the posts on this blog and doesn’t believe in Darwin is an idiot.
detritusUSA
February 29th, 2012
3:17 pm
Recently joking with a friend, I was asked how to spell Georgia. Was it G-e-o-r-g-i-a or Gawja? I replied: It is correctly spelled B-e-n-i-g-h-t-e-d.
xdog
February 29th, 2012
3:23 pm
Rick
February 29th, 2012
3:26 pm
td – The case was not ruled on based on the merits. The defense did not show up. Based on the merits, it would have been a default judgement for the plantiff.
DannyX
February 29th, 2012
3:30 pm
“You do know that the case in Georgia has been appealed to the Superior court in Fulton county?”
The empty table will win again.
ramguy68
February 29th, 2012
3:33 pm
td 2:36 pm Is this really nutty?
Yes it is and I’m sure you know it is. Instead of skirting the fence on this, why don’t you just come out and say it. When you put up the “well what about so and so” remarks you are really defending.this guy. Just say the guy is ignoramus and get it over with or nobody is going take anything you write with any degree of seriousness.
Sparks
February 29th, 2012
3:42 pm
Hatfield nutty? Okay. Only in America could a nut job like Obama get elected to public office either…we the people, got to love it.
Ashamed to Be a Southerner
February 29th, 2012
3:44 pm
A. The Case had no MERIT.
B. Never would have been an issue to Mr. Hatfield and the rest of the “Birthers” if the president had been white. (I am a middle-aged white woman, by the way.)
Sparks
February 29th, 2012
3:46 pm
Delta is ready….you know the rest.
UGA 1999
February 29th, 2012
3:50 pm
A 40 year musical legend dies today. RIP Davy Jones. It barely makes the front page.
A crack addict in Whitney Houston dies and it becomes a two week parade.
A great sign of the times.
Carole
February 29th, 2012
3:52 pm
td
There is only one state court that has heard the issue about the qualifications and rules that “natural born citizen” was the same as citizen.
You do know that the case in Georgia has been appealed to the Superior court in Fulton county?
+++++++
Which proves my point. There have been discussions on the issue on both sides. Obviously the court that ruled believes like most people who usually hear the term.
The fact that it’s going to Superior Court doesn’t mean the party feels they have a valid case. I’ve seen people waste their money on court cases purely for spite. Or to try to make the other person waste money and time defending themselves.
DannyX
February 29th, 2012
3:54 pm
“A 40 year musical legend dies today. RIP Davy Jones.”
A legend! LMAO! Ok maybe if you are a 55 year old women shattered by the death of her teenage first crush.
WOW
February 29th, 2012
3:55 pm
@ UGA
Are you seriously trying to say that Whitney Houston is not a musical legend? Really? Come on!
Bernie
February 29th, 2012
3:56 pm
In the words of fomer Governor Lester Maddox ” honest businessmen should be protected from the unscrupulous consumer. ”
I would update that quote with “Honest Politicians should be protected from the unscrupulous consumer. “
BRW
February 29th, 2012
3:56 pm
td and UGA Embarassment, This will be settled once and for all after President Obama’s 8th year in the White House. The necks just can’t stand that he’s not their color. Period.
Rex Dogma
February 29th, 2012
3:56 pm
What a joke!!!
Angel Macaroni
February 29th, 2012
3:57 pm
A UGA soccer player got caught trying to steal a dollar’s worth of taters from the cafeteria. She is from a “christian” school before getting paid to kick a ball at Football U. Is she the spawn of the prolix and retarded post-er who calls himself “UGA 1999″? OTOH, this character might actually be a GT alum with a sense of humor.
WOW
February 29th, 2012
3:58 pm
@ angel
It was a prank.
UGA 1999
February 29th, 2012
3:59 pm
DannyX….Yes because he was. And he died of natural causes unlike the late Whitney Houston. I never said she was not a legend but she killed herself.
gooberville
February 29th, 2012
3:59 pm
td and ‘Centrist’ you two are prime examples of the phrase that opinions are alike a******s, everybody has one and you both try to monopolize every posting jumping on it within minutes. Don’t either of you have any productive to do or just sitting around collecting your gov’t welfare handout (social security)?
Carole
February 29th, 2012
4:00 pm
UGA 1999
A 40 year musical legend dies today. RIP Davy Jones. It barely makes the front page.
++++++
Are you serious. I have obviously let you know what I think of Davy Jones, but he is by no means the equivalent of Whitney Houston.
How many #1 records did he have? How many Grammys? How many movies did he star in. Come on dude, you don’t have to like her, but don’t do this. You lose a lot of credibility over stuff like this.
Angel Macaroni
February 29th, 2012
4:00 pm
Davy Jones was a “musical legend”? He could neither sing nor play an instrument. His qualification was that he was British –so he could plausibly impersonate a faux Beatle on a tv show. Is every graduate of UGA brain-dead?
WOW
February 29th, 2012
4:01 pm
Both are news stories, but the Houston one is a bigger story, one because she was more popular and two the way in which she died.
The media chases the story.
Emmanuel Hall
February 29th, 2012
4:02 pm
These Republican controlled state legeslatures, including Georgia are as dangerous to this country as any terrorist. Oh no, Just take a look at what laws they have proposed. However, none of these nuts are as insane and dangerous as the idiots who vote for them.
WOW
February 29th, 2012
4:04 pm
@ Angel
No all graduates of UGA are not brain dead. The guy on this blog is no way a representative of all of us either.
UGA 1999
February 29th, 2012
4:06 pm
Carole they had 2 number one hits in 1967 alone.
UGA 1999
February 29th, 2012
4:07 pm
Over a drug addict killing herself…versus a man who led a good life and had a 40 year musical career. NICE!
JRev
February 29th, 2012
4:13 pm
So Hatfield is “pro-Family”? What the heck does that even mean? I guess it’s a thinly-veiled insult to pro-choice people? So, if you’re pro-choice, then you’re anti-family? I just love how supposed conservatives rail against gov’t intrusion, except when it furthers their own “morales” or agenda. I’m pro-life for myself and pro-choice overall because I don’t think that is a personal decision. I guess that makes me neither pro or anti-family then. Meh.
DannyX
February 29th, 2012
4:20 pm
“So Hatfield is “pro-Family”? What the heck does that even mean?”
I always thought “pro-family” was code for anti-gay.
Michael
February 29th, 2012
4:32 pm
Can’t say I’m surprised but I can say I am disappointed that Mark is a birther.
Bernie
February 29th, 2012
4:32 pm
Mark Hatfield’s decision reminds me of a quote by Former Georgia Governor Lester Maddox, “That’s part of American greatness, is discrimination. Yes, sir. Inequality, I think, breeds freedom and gives a man opportunity.”
McCoy family
February 29th, 2012
4:37 pm
Trust us. This man ain’t no good.
McCoy family
February 29th, 2012
4:39 pm
uga,
Judgment belongs to the Lord not your pompous tush. Leave Whitney alone. Drugs took alot of talent: Joplin, Hendrix, ect…No need to attack the dead.
td
February 29th, 2012
4:41 pm
WOW
February 29th, 2012
3:55 pm
@ UGA
Are you seriously trying to say that Whitney Houston is not a musical legend? Really? Come on!
Legend, no. Great voice, yes. She could have been a legend if she did not become an addict.
DannyX
February 29th, 2012
4:46 pm
“She could have been a legend if she did not become an addict.”
That’s just silly. Every year fans flock to the grave of Elvis Presley. His birthday is still noted in the media.
Rush Limbaugh is still a legend in the minds of many crazy Republicans.
Look before I leap...
February 29th, 2012
4:46 pm
Absent the final toxicology results, we do not know what killed Whitney Houston.
UGA is assuming it was drugs. Unless he has sources at the LA Medical Examiner’s office, he does not know either.
McCoy family
February 29th, 2012
4:47 pm
Charo’ is legendary.
McCoy family
February 29th, 2012
4:49 pm
DannyX,
Excelllent rebuttal with limbug’s pill poppin’ arse.
Gaywad for Jesus
February 29th, 2012
4:50 pm
Hate is the simplest way to deal with fear.
Simpletons like UGA 1999 will always run straight to hate when confronted with a confusing situation.
yuzeyurbrane
February 29th, 2012
4:53 pm
I want to see his long form birth certificate.
Sweet Melissa
February 29th, 2012
4:54 pm
Truer words have never been spoken, Gaywad. I think we can all agree uga is a major league pud.
Michael
February 29th, 2012
4:57 pm
You all do realize on an anonymous blog you could be arguing with a 15 year old who reads a lot.
Look before I leap...
February 29th, 2012
5:05 pm
@td
“Legend, no. Great voice, yes. She could have been a legend if she did not become an addict.”
Legend and addict are not mutually exclusive terms.
I’d say that Whitney’s 100 million plus in record/album sales puts her much closer to legendary status than that of the Monkee’s and their 20 million in sales.
double
February 29th, 2012
5:35 pm
I do not know Mr Hatfield,or anything about him.One thing I do know is we do not need any more Lawyers in our government.Also I think one should let the dead rest in peace.
Rod
February 29th, 2012
5:59 pm
Caroline we have proof john mccain was not born in the united states but in the panama canal zone you heffa and i dont mean heifer
Attack Dog
February 29th, 2012
6:13 pm
Someone referenced that Hatfield questioned if Obama was a natural-born citizen, which is a valid point. That said, Romney’s grandfather disavowed his U.S. citizenship and moved to Mexico where George Romney was born, thus making him a Mexican. Even though Although Ronmey’s mother was an American, this means that Willard is not a “natural born” either. True that!
Lakedawg
February 29th, 2012
6:31 pm
I’m not a birther and think the whole issue is moot- but there have NOT been birth certificates produced to prove Obama’s HI birth that I couldn’t fly over, complete an affadavit, and get for myself.
This IS an opinion column and the left can’t disagree without calling the other side names. Does that make them ignorant, or backwards, or “nutcases”? I won’t call them that, that would be wrong.
Alabama Communist
February 29th, 2012
6:37 pm
More Breaking News On Jim Finding birther Hatfield In State Snack Bar….A reported fight broke out when Jim asked Hatfield that he wanted to see his Birth Cert and that he was a American Citizen instead of being a Confederate Citizen since he was wearing a want to be Stonewall Jackson Uniform at the Snack Bar complaining about the poor service from the Government Slaves..
Lakedawg
February 29th, 2012
6:37 pm
Lefties-
Go back to the beginning and read this blog, and then tell me from where the hate is gushing. Why do you people hate those who disagree with your worldview so much?
honested
February 29th, 2012
6:57 pm
As one who is about as far left as one can be, I can state that despite his position on this particular issue, Representative Hatfield is an honest and principled individual.
Why else would the CofC and the GA republican party wish to draw him out of his district?
td
February 29th, 2012
7:35 pm
honested
February 29th, 2012
6:57 pm
You and I actually agree on the fact that Hatfield is an honest politician. Is the world coming to an end?
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February 29th, 2012
7:45 pm
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Shine
February 29th, 2012
9:13 pm
I am glad Hatfield is running and he will probably be the only Republican I vote for. We need more reps and senators that aint arse kissers to the leadership.
Shine
February 29th, 2012
9:23 pm
..and I will be voting for President Obama a second term as president along with Hatfield for my Ga State Senator.
BRW
February 29th, 2012
9:38 pm
Lakedawg, You obviously do not read this blog when the name calling starts against Obama. Open your eyes and ears. And learn how to spell D.O.G. homer…
big george
February 29th, 2012
9:50 pm
re John McCain’s U.S. citizenship having been born abroad, it has long been the law of the U.S. that a child born abroad and EITHER parent is a U.S. citizen, then the child is also a U.S. citizen.
Bobby
February 29th, 2012
10:05 pm
Hatfield is the typical redneck that the Georgia GOP attracts. And I’m sure he is running in a white district, so keep your white sheets clean for wearing at his rallies.
big george
February 29th, 2012
10:26 pm
Any child born in the U.S., regardless of parents’ nationality, is a U.S. citizen. See 14th Amendment, U.S. Constitution.
Now, let’s move on to something REALLY topical.
Shine
March 1st, 2012
12:10 am
Dear Bobby, you can check and see the 7th Senatoral District is about 66% white, which is only about 6 points off the state average of near 60%. As a Representative, he was given the “off the reservation award” for voting the least with the GOP KOOK lack of leadership in the House, Rat Ralston.
Ralph
March 1st, 2012
3:52 am
It is well settled that ‘native-born’ citizens, those born in the United States, qualify as natural born.See, e.g., Freedman, Presidential Timber: Foreign Born Children of American Parents, 35 CORNELL L.Q. 357 (1950); Gordon, Who Can Be President of the United States: The Unresolved Enigma, 28 MD. L. REV. 1 (1968); Means, Is Presidency Barred to Americans Born Abroad?, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REP., Dec. 23, 1955, at 26; Morse, Natural-Born Citizen of the United States—Eligibility for the Office of President, 66 ALB. L.J. 99 (1904); McElwee, unpublished article reprinted in 113 CONG. REC. 15,875 (1967).
Native-born citizens are natural born by virtue of the nearly universal principle of jus soli, or citizenship of place of birth. See infra note 24. Section 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment confirmed this birthright citizenship, and guaranteed its application to groups that had previously been excluded, such as the descendants of former slaves, see Dred Scott v. Sandford, 60 U.S. (19 How.) 393 (1857); see infra Section II-B. See generally United States v. Wong Kim Ark, 169 U.S. 649 (1898) (child born on American soil of alien parents is American citizen); Von Schwerdtner v. Piper, 23 F.2d 862 (D. Md. 1928) (same); Tomasicchio v. Acheson, 98 F. Supp. 166 (D.D.C. 1951).
Constitutional scholars have traditionally approached the uncertainty surrounding the meaning of the natural-born citizen clause by inquiring into the specific meaning of the term ‘natural born’ at the time of the Constitutional Convention. They conclude that a class of citizens should be considered natural born today only if they would have been considered natural-born citizens under the law in effect at the time of the framing of the Constitution.
The records of the adoption of the clause by the delegates of the 1787 Constitutional Convention provide no evidence of the intended meaning of the phrase ‘natural-born citizen.’ The Committee on Detail of the Convention, given the task of converting the Convention’s general ideas about the office of Chief Executive into a concrete proposal, submitted without comment a recommendation that the President be a ‘citizen’ and a resident of the United States for at least twenty-one years. The ‘natural born’ requirement, along with a proposed reduction in the residency requirement and addition of a ‘grandfather clause,’ first emerged two weeks later, on September 4, from the Committee of Eleven, whose responsibility it was to revise the draft in accord with the suggestions of the delegates. The Committee did not explain the change to ‘natural born’ citizen, and the Convention approved the revisions without debate. The Committee on Style and Arrangement, or Committee on Revision, retained the presidential qualifications without substantial change, and the provision was adopted without debate. The deliberations of the Constitutional Convention, therefore, provide no clue to the meaning of the phrase.
Detailed analysis of pre-Revolution English common law and the pre-Constitutional laws of the US states in a 1988 Yale Law Journal article reveals that at the time of the framing of the Constitution, there was no common understanding of what ‘natural born citizen’ meant.
The phrase ‘natural born citizen’ appears once in the papers of the founders. [FN36] In a letter predating the appearance of the phrase in the Committee of Eleven report by six weeks, John Jay wrote to George Washington:
Permit me to hint, whether it would not be wise . . . to provide a strong check to the admission of Foreigners into the administration of our national Government; and to declare expressly that the Command in chief of the american army shall not be given to, nor devolve on, any but a natural born Citizen.
The letter is generally assumed to be the source of the phrase in the Constitution. Some writers have suggested that Jay was responding to rumors that foreign princes might be asked to assume the Presidency. But the only firm conclusions that may be drawn from the letter are that Jay was interested in creating some guarantee of allegiance to the United States for high office holders and that he placed special significance on the word ‘born.’
hese conclusions are strengthened by the existence of another document, which, oddly enough, has never been mentioned in previous discussions of the clause. On June 18, a little over a month before Jay’s letter, Alexander Hamilton submitted a ‘sketch of a plan of government which ‘was meant only to give a more correct view of his ideas, and to suggest the amendments which he should probably propose . . . in . . . future discussion.’’ Article IX, section 1 of the sketch provided: ‘No person shall be eligible to the office of President of the United States unless he be now a Citizen of one of the States, or hereafter be born a Citizen of the United States.’ Hamilton’s draft, which appears to be an early version of the natural-born citizen clause, contains two distinct ideas: first, that those currently citizens will not be excluded from presidential eligibility, and second, that the President must be born a citizen. Without the modifier ‘natural,’ the essence of the text is apparent: The President need not be native born, but must be a citizen from birth.
The indeterminacy of the traditional search for specific intent is evident. The records of the Convention provide no answer as to whether children born abroad of citizens might be considered natural born. The laws of Britain tell us only that they would have been natural-born subjects of Britain and, arguably, only up until independence. Nor does the Jay letter or the Hamilton draft, without reference to subsequent naturalization statutes, tell us anything about which categories of people would be included by their phrases.
Constitutional scholars seeking to determine the original intent of the framers often look to the earliest acts of Congress, which included many of the members of the Constitutional Convention and the state ratifying conventions. Congress’ first act concerning citizenship, the Naturalization Act of 1790, was consistent with Madison’s and Hamilton’s understanding. In that act Congress provided that ‘the children of citizens of the United States, that may be born beyond the sea, . . . shall be considered as natural born citizens . . ..’ Although the phrase was deleted in a later act for unknown reasons, the Act was never challenged as being beyond the scope of Congress’ naturalization power. Thus, under the Naturalization Act of 1790, both a person born in the US and a person born abroad of a citizen parent would be a natural born citizen.
The Fourteenth Amendment, enacted in response to Dred Scott v. Sandford, which held that blacks—even though born in the United States and of emancipated parents—were not citizens, provided a constitutional definition of citizenship: ‘All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.’ While there is no discretion left to Congress in the first phrase of the Fourteenth Amendment, ‘all persons born’ in the United States are ipso facto citizens —the second phrase of that clause, ‘or naturalized in the United States,’ is the exclusive province of Congress. The effect of the Amendment is to deny Congress the power to determine who shall be native-born citizens, despite its naturalization powers. [FN65] But how does this limitation intersect with the natural-born citizen clause? It seems that ‘natural born’ cannot be a category outside of ‘born . . . in the United States’ and ‘naturalized,’ or it would be outside of constitutionally defined and protected citizenship. Thus, ‘natural born’ must be either synonymous with ‘native born’ or also include a subset of ‘naturalized.’
If Obama was born in Hawaii, he is a natural born citizen even though his father was not a citizen. Aside the the confusion about the birth certificate, the 1961 newspapers carried birth announcements. The Sunday Advertiser and the Star Bulletin in August 1961 both carried the same birth announcement: “Mr. & Mrs. Barack H. Obama, 6081 Kalanianaole Hwy, son, Aug. 4.”
If Obama were born abroad of a parent who was a US citizen, then he would also be a natural born citizen.
No one has shown how a step parent who takes a little child out of the country could deprive that child of his US citizenship.
I still don’t like Obama’s policies. I still don’t think he is a sincere adherent to ANY religion other than secular humanism. I still think he is a socialist at heart. I still think he is a fishy character.
But there is no evidence that he is anything other than a natural born citizen constitutionally eligible for election as President.
Ralph
March 1st, 2012
4:00 am
New Breeding Program Aimed At Keeping Moderate Republicans From Going Extinct http://www.theonion.com/articles/new-breeding-program-aimed-at-keeping-moderate-rep,27371/
Ralph
March 1st, 2012
4:07 am
Here is the birth certificate produced by the state of Hawaii. http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/birthers/birthcertificate.asp
Enough already! Beat Obama on the merits, on the issues, but not on bias, prejudice and fanciful made up challenges to the circumstances of his birth.
Find The Attorney » Attorney in ‘birther’ action jumps into state Senate race – Atlanta Journal Constitution (blog)
March 1st, 2012
4:46 am
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Lib in Cobb
March 1st, 2012
5:15 am
Another candidate for office running on the pro-life, family values, Obama is not eligible platform. He should be running on the YUP, YUP, Yup, Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee platform.
Montana
March 1st, 2012
3:01 pm
Mitt Romney’s Mexican father, hmmmmm…….Are the simple minded “BIRTHERS”, going to ask Romney for his birth certificate? We all know this was never about a birth certificate, if it was then these same people would be asking Romney for his. It’s about small minded people who hate African Americans and do not have the brains to review a President’s policy so they make something up. So sad, so sad.
cynd
March 1st, 2012
3:26 pm
For those of you who aren’t familiar with Rep. Hatfield’s family history, he’s a member of the imfamous Hatfield clan that famously feuded against the McCoys. You can’t make this stuff up. They don’t call it racism in GA, it’s just life.