Qualifications for President and the “Natural Born” Citizenship Eligibility Requirement
viewing on the White House website on April 27, 2011.[1] The Department of Health of the State of Hawaii cites on its official website to the White House posting of the President’s birth certificate as the document that the state certified and delivered.[2]
It should be noted that both documents from the State of Hawaii, that is, the so-called “short-form” Certification of Live Birth [the “COLB”], or the certified copy of the longer form certificate of live birth, according to the official declarations of officers of the State of Hawaii, have been officially certified by the state, and are therefore “self-authenticated documents” under Federal Rules of Evidence,[3] as well as “public records” of that state. Under the United States Constitution, a public record of a state is required to be given “full faith and credit” by all other states in the country.[4] Even if a state were to require its election officials for the first time ever to receive a “birth certificate” as a requirement for a federal candidate’s ballot placement, a document certified by another state, such as a “short form” birth certificate, or the certified long form, would be required to be accepted by all states under the “full faith and credit” clause of the United States Constitution.[5]
With respect to any actual contrary evidence, it may be noted briefly that there appear to be no legitimate, official documentary records, or copies of such records, which have been produced or forwarded contradicting the prima facie record of President Obama’s birth in Hawaii, as provided in the official certification (or certificate) of live birth released by the Obama campaign in 2008 and attested to by Hawaii Department of Health officials, or the certified copy of the “long form” birth certificate publicly shown and released on April 27, 2011. No verified, official record of birth from any other jurisdiction or country has been produced; no contradictory health record or hospital record has been forwarded; and no official record of travel (such as a passport record) appears to exist placing President Obama’s mother in a foreign country at the time of the President’s birth. A federal court has found with respect to birth records that “a record of birth contemporaneously made by governmental authority in official records would be almost conclusive evidence of birth.”[6] As expressly verified by Hawaiian officials, and as officially
- ↑ http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2011/04/27/president-obamas-long-form-birth-certificate; and http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/rss_viewer/birth-certificate-long-form.pdf. (Last visited on the date of this report). The documents released at that time also include letters to the Hawaii Department of Health requesting a certified copy of the original certification of live birth, and an official correspondence from the Hawaii Department of Health to the President regarding the copying and certification of the document.
- ↑ http://hawaii.gov/health/vital-records/obama.html (Last visited on date of this report).
- ↑ Federal Rules of Evidence (2010), Rule 901(b)(7) and 902. 28 U.S.C. app. Rule 902, see also Notes of Advisory Committee on Proposed Rules, Rule 902. The state certification in itself thus provides the proof of authenticity of the document, and verifies the records on file with the state.
- ↑ U.S. Const., art. IV, §1; see 28 U.S.C. §1739, applying to all “nonjudicial records or books kept in any public office of any State, Territory, or Possession of the United States, or copies thereof….”
- ↑ It may be noted that the Certification of Live Birth from Hawaii is a “birth certificate” under the uniform identification standards promulgated in federal law for all federal agencies. See P.L. 108-458, “Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004,” title VIII, §7211(a), 118 Stat. 3825 (2004), amending P.L. 104-208, Div. C, “Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996,” title VI, §656, 110 Stat. 3009-716 (1996), now codified at 5 U.S.C. §301, note, setting out uniform federal standards for “identification-related documents.” Federal law under these provisions now expressly defines a “birth certificate” as a certificate of birth for a citizen or national of the United States whose birth is registered in this country and is issued by a “State or local government agency or authorized custodian of record and produced from birth records maintained by such agency or custodian of record.” A “birth certificate” thus does not need to be, and is generally not, the “original” record (which is now, more often than not, maintained electronically), but is rather a certified copy based on and produced from such health records “maintained” by the state or locality.
- ↑ Liacakos v. Kennedy, 195 F. Supp. 630, 631 (D.D.C. 1961).
