Qualifications for President and the “Natural Born” Citizenship Eligibility Requirement
The presumption always is, that a person chosen to an office is qualified to fill it, and it is never incumbent upon him to prove his eligibility. The certificate of election does not add to this presumption, but simply leaves it where the law places it, and he who denies the eligibility of a person who is certified to be elected, must take the burthen of proving that he is not eligible.[1]
Despite the absence of formal administrative or legal requirements to produce a “birth certificate” for ballot placement of federal candidates, and despite the fact that under the long-standing principles of American jurisprudence, and U.S. democratic tradition, the clear burden of proof must be upon those who challenge a federal candidate’s eligibility, it may be noted that the only official documentation or record that had been publicly forwarded in the matter of President Obama’s eligibility at the time of the 2008 election was an official, certified copy of the record of live birth released by the Obama campaign in June of 2008, as an apparent effort by then-candidate Obama to address rumors and innuendos concerning both his middle name as well as the place of his birth.[2] The copy of this certificate states on its face, as expressly certified by Hawaii health and vital records personnel, that Barack Obama was born in Hawaii, in the City of Honolulu on the Island of Oahu, at 7:24 P.M. on August 4, 1961.[3] Under Hawaii law, an officially certified copy of such health record is to be considered “for all purposes the same as the original,”[4] and is “prima facie” evidence of the facts asserted.[5]
Subsequent to that release in 2008, President Obama requested in writing from the State of Hawaii an exception to the public records laws and regulations of the State of Hawaii so that the Department of Health could release to the President a certified copy of his original, so-called “long form” certificate of live birth. The official certified copy was shown to reporters at a press conference in the White House, and a scanned copy of the document was posted for public
- ↑ George W. McCrary, A Treatise on the American Law of Elections, at 249–250 (1875, Fourth ed. by Henry L. McCune, 1897). The word “burthen” is a now-archaic variation of the word “burden.” See also qualifications case regarding Member-elect Michalek in the U.S. House of Representatives, where affidavits and petitions signed by 125 citizens claimed that the Member-elect was not a citizen. When inquiry was made, complainants provided no actual evidence or proof of non-citizenship, and the matter was dismissed by the House without even requiring the Member-elect to respond or to provide a defense, as the complainants did not meet the required burden of proof to move forward. 1 Hinds’ Precedents of the House of Representatives, §§426, 427, pp. 406–413 (1907).
- ↑ A scanned copy of the certified COLB was “released” by the Obama campaign and made available on the candidate’s website (http://fightthesmears.com/articles/5/birthcertificate). The campaign invited non-partisan, independent organizations involved in public policy and the political process to examine the certificate, including “factcheck.org,” a project of the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg Public Policy Center. See discussion at http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/print_born_in_the_usa.html, and the St. Petersburg Times’ “Politfact.com,” which describes itself as “a project of the St. Petersburg Times to help you find the truth in politics” (“Obama’s birth certificate: Final chapter”: http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2008/jun/27/obamas-birth-certificate-part-ii).
- ↑ In addition to the certification that the document is a “true copy” of the birth records on file, official personnel of the State of Hawaii have affirmed, in official statements, that such records were on file at the Department of Health, and show President Obama’s birth in Hawaii, as certified. Hawaii Department of Health, News Release, “Statement by Dr. Chiyome Fukino,” October 31, 2008, http://hawaii.gov/health/about/pr/2008/08-93.pdf; and statement of Dr. Fukino, Hawaii Department of Health, at http://hawaii.gov/health/about/pr/2009/09-063.pdf. See also testimony of the Director of Health before the Senate Committee on Judiciary and Government Operations, on SB 2937SD1, Relating to Information Practices, March 16, 2010. Note also Honolulu Star-Bulletin, “Officials verify birth certificate of Obama,” November 1, 2008, and see contemporaneous newspaper announcements of Obama birth in August of 1961 in Honolulu, The Sunday Advertiser, “Health Bureau Statistics,” p. B-6, August 13, 1961 (a scanned copy of this announcement appears at http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/dailypix/2008/Nov/09/hawaii811090361V3_b.jpg), and the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, August 14, 1961, based on health records forwarded by the hospital to the newspapers.
- ↑ Hawaii Revised Statutes Ann., §338-13.
- ↑ Hawaii Revised Statutes Ann., §338-41(b).
