The McCain Controversy

The Constitution states: "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."

The argument is that John McCain born at the US military base at Coco Solo in the Panama Canal Zone is not eligible to be President of the United States under the Article II of the Constitution.

The State Department's official position outlined in Acquisition and Retention of US Citizenship and Nationality 7 FAM 1116,1-4 Not included in the meaning of "In the United States", paragraph c. ""Despite widespread popular belief, U.S. military installations abroad and U.S. diplomatic or consular facilities are not part of the United States within the meaning of the 14th Amendment. A child born on the premises of such a facility is not subject to the jurisdiction of the United States and does not acquire U.S. citizenship by reason of birth."

In contrast to that, the US Supreme Court has already ruled in United States v. Wong Kim Ark, 169 U.S. 649 (1898): A person born within the jurisdiction of the U.S. to non-citizens who "are not employed in any diplomatic or official capacity" is automatically a citizen.

So now we have people arguing that the children of US military members born 'under orders' overseas on a US military base are not eligible to be President, but the child of illegal immigrants born while illegally in the US are.

Fortunately Senator Claire McCaskill (D-Mo) introduced a bill clarifying that children born to US military personnel serving overseas can indeed grow up to be President and Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have signed on as sponsors of the bill.

Unfortunately the bill, for reasons unknown, seems to be stalled in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

So McCaskill has tried again, introducing a a resolution recognizing that John Sidney McCain, III, is a natural born citizen, again Obama and Clinton have signed on as sponsors.

It is virtually guaranteed that if elected someone will file a legal challenge against McCain on this basis.

My question is simply "HAVE WE LOST ALL COMMON SENSE?"

One might as well argue 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"... means that if you weren't a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, on September 17th, 1787 you are not eligible. It does after all say "at the time of"...not "on or after"



~Finntann~