Thursday, Feb. 28, 2008 13:21 EST
John McCain's Panama problem
Some of John McCain's enemies over the years have accused him of being a real-life Manchurian candidate. But this morning's New York Times took on the issue of John McCain, Panamanian candidate.
Because he was born in the Panama Canal Zone when his father was posted there for the Navy, McCain has a little more legal work to do than most other presidential candidates to make sure he's actually eligible to serve if he wins the election. "It is not a slam-dunk situation," Catholic University law professor Sarah H. Duggin told the Times. That's because the Constitution says only "natural-born" citizens can make it all the way to the White House. (Which may be the only thing standing in the way of Arnold Schwarzenegger's triumphant cross-country march from Sacramento to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.) Legal scholars agree that means naturalized citizens aren't eligible, but no one has ever litigated the question of what the provision means for someone who wasn't born in the continental United States, but who had citizenship at birth because of his or her parents, or because of laws giving citizenship to children of U.S. military personnel posted to the Canal Zone.
The issue has actually come up a few times before; Barry Goldwater (the last Arizonan to win the GOP's nomination for president) faced some questions because when he was born, Arizona wasn't a state yet. Mitt Romey's father, George Romney, was born in Mexico, but his 1968 presidential campaign didn't last long enough for anyone to worry about whether he could serve.
McCain's campaign has apparently gotten concerned enough to have heavyweight Washington lawyer Ted Olson look into the matter. (It inherited his support when Rudy Giuliani dropped out and endorsed McCain.) "I don't have much doubt about [McCain's eligibility],” Olson told the Times, though he is apparently still researching the issue. While it's unlikely the Democratic National Committee would pursue the matter, don't be surprised if some lawsuit gets filed by someone that McCain's lawyers will have to fend off using Olson's brief. After all, it's a long way until November.
― Mike Madden
Posted in: 2008 Election, John McCain
http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2008/02/28/panama/index.html
Is this thing on?
Southern Arizona politics brought to you by a technophobe, grappling with a fad called the Internet
Post details: Holy Article II, Batman! McCain may have a problem.
07/11/08
05:50:51 pm, Categories: Politics, 336 words
Holy Article II, Batman! McCain may have a problem.
University of Arizona law professor Jack Chin has written an opinion that looks at John McCain's eligibility for the White House, and ... in the words of Scooby Doo: Ruh-roh!
Most of us in the political orbit without law degrees just looked at the Constitutional provision that requires a president be a "natural born U.S. citizen" and assumed that McCain's birth in the Panama Canal Zone, then a U.S. territory, was enough to prove the point. Open and shut.
That's why people who aren't lawyers read the law at our own peril.
Chin points out that there are only two ways to be a natural born citizen: 1) Be born in one of the several states. 2) Be born in a territory or some such place with Old Glory flying overhead where statute grants citizenship at birth to babies born proud American papas/and/or mamas.
Well, Chin discovered the law in place conferring citizenship on kids born in the territories purposely excluded the Canal Zone. Now, Congress figured this out and changed the law in 1937 to include the Canal Zone, but McCain was already toddling. He was a citizen, but not at birth, Chin points out.
Now, left-wing con law guru Laurence Tribe and right-wing con law guru Theodore Olson issued a joint-opinion that McCain was a natural born citizen. However, Chin argues, they did not mention in their opinion the applicable statutes.
Chin doesn't necessarily approve of the provision. And, frankly, propriety dictates some sort of retroactive immunity clause for, of all people, John McCain. In service to his country, Dude got broken creatively down deep in a Hanoi dungeon. Not for a few days but for five years.
Still, he's also the one who promises to appoint judges who strictly apply the Constitution ... Anyway, a plain-text reading of politics suggests there's no way that McCain will be tossed because of this. The case would undoubtedly go to the U.S. Supreme Court and that, folks, is another five-four decision waiting to happen.
BLAKE MORLOCK
Leave a comment
http://209.85.141.104/search?q=cache...lnk&cd=5&gl=us
John McCain's Panama problem
Some of John McCain's enemies over the years have accused him of being a real-life Manchurian candidate. But this morning's New York Times took on the issue of John McCain, Panamanian candidate.
Because he was born in the Panama Canal Zone when his father was posted there for the Navy, McCain has a little more legal work to do than most other presidential candidates to make sure he's actually eligible to serve if he wins the election. "It is not a slam-dunk situation," Catholic University law professor Sarah H. Duggin told the Times. That's because the Constitution says only "natural-born" citizens can make it all the way to the White House. (Which may be the only thing standing in the way of Arnold Schwarzenegger's triumphant cross-country march from Sacramento to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.) Legal scholars agree that means naturalized citizens aren't eligible, but no one has ever litigated the question of what the provision means for someone who wasn't born in the continental United States, but who had citizenship at birth because of his or her parents, or because of laws giving citizenship to children of U.S. military personnel posted to the Canal Zone.
The issue has actually come up a few times before; Barry Goldwater (the last Arizonan to win the GOP's nomination for president) faced some questions because when he was born, Arizona wasn't a state yet. Mitt Romey's father, George Romney, was born in Mexico, but his 1968 presidential campaign didn't last long enough for anyone to worry about whether he could serve.
McCain's campaign has apparently gotten concerned enough to have heavyweight Washington lawyer Ted Olson look into the matter. (It inherited his support when Rudy Giuliani dropped out and endorsed McCain.) "I don't have much doubt about [McCain's eligibility],” Olson told the Times, though he is apparently still researching the issue. While it's unlikely the Democratic National Committee would pursue the matter, don't be surprised if some lawsuit gets filed by someone that McCain's lawyers will have to fend off using Olson's brief. After all, it's a long way until November.
― Mike Madden
Posted in: 2008 Election, John McCain
http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2008/02/28/panama/index.html
Is this thing on?
Southern Arizona politics brought to you by a technophobe, grappling with a fad called the Internet
Post details: Holy Article II, Batman! McCain may have a problem.
07/11/08
05:50:51 pm, Categories: Politics, 336 words
Holy Article II, Batman! McCain may have a problem.
University of Arizona law professor Jack Chin has written an opinion that looks at John McCain's eligibility for the White House, and ... in the words of Scooby Doo: Ruh-roh!
Most of us in the political orbit without law degrees just looked at the Constitutional provision that requires a president be a "natural born U.S. citizen" and assumed that McCain's birth in the Panama Canal Zone, then a U.S. territory, was enough to prove the point. Open and shut.
That's why people who aren't lawyers read the law at our own peril.
Chin points out that there are only two ways to be a natural born citizen: 1) Be born in one of the several states. 2) Be born in a territory or some such place with Old Glory flying overhead where statute grants citizenship at birth to babies born proud American papas/and/or mamas.
Well, Chin discovered the law in place conferring citizenship on kids born in the territories purposely excluded the Canal Zone. Now, Congress figured this out and changed the law in 1937 to include the Canal Zone, but McCain was already toddling. He was a citizen, but not at birth, Chin points out.
Now, left-wing con law guru Laurence Tribe and right-wing con law guru Theodore Olson issued a joint-opinion that McCain was a natural born citizen. However, Chin argues, they did not mention in their opinion the applicable statutes.
Chin doesn't necessarily approve of the provision. And, frankly, propriety dictates some sort of retroactive immunity clause for, of all people, John McCain. In service to his country, Dude got broken creatively down deep in a Hanoi dungeon. Not for a few days but for five years.
Still, he's also the one who promises to appoint judges who strictly apply the Constitution ... Anyway, a plain-text reading of politics suggests there's no way that McCain will be tossed because of this. The case would undoubtedly go to the U.S. Supreme Court and that, folks, is another five-four decision waiting to happen.
BLAKE MORLOCK
Leave a comment
http://209.85.141.104/search?q=cache...lnk&cd=5&gl=us