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Q: A question for US Birthers ?
I watched the Republican debate today, and this birther thing came up again. Potentially, most of the candidates are affected by it.
My question is, does the birther movement potentially create a class of citizen who do not have the same rights as others?
To to put it into context. Maybe you are an American, with Chinese partner, and child born here. You move to the US with your family. According to the birthers, your child, although an American citizen, could never stand for election as POTUS.
Should the the west discriminate on the basis of place of birth?
Some scientists think aliens are living in star system KIC bla bla bla. its over 1000 light years away so it would be very hard for any of them to be elected as POTUS.
Apparently, to fall within the eligibility to run for President, if a person is born outside of American territory, both parents have to be American citizens.
http://m.baidu.com/from=1099b/bd_page_type=1/ssid=0/uid=0/pu=usm%400%2Cs...
Spiderboenz:
Constitutional Topic: Citizenship
The Constitutional Topics pages at the USConstitution.net site are presented to delve deeper into topics than can be provided on the Glossary Pageor in the FAQ pages. This Topic Page concerns Citizenship. Citizenship is mentioned in Article 1, Section 2, Article 1, Section 3, Article 1, Section 8, Article 2, Section 1, and in the 14th Amendmentand several subsequent amendments.
If you're going to be involved in government in the United States, citizenship is a must. To be a Senator or Representative, you must be a citizen of the United States. To be President, not only must you be a citizen, but you must also be natural-born. Aside from participation in government, citizenship is an honor bestowed upon people by the citizenry of the United States when a non-citizen passes the required tests and submits to an oath.
Natural-born citizen
Who is a natural-born citizen? Who, in other words, is a citizen at birth, such that that person can be a President someday?
The 14th Amendmentdefines citizenship this way: "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." But even this does not get specific enough. As usual, the Constitution provides the framework for the law, but it is the law that fills in the gaps. The Constitution authorizes the Congress to do create clarifying legislation in Section 5 of the 14th Amendment; the Constitution, in Article 1, Section 8, Clause 4, also allows the Congress to create law regarding naturalization, which includes citizenship.
Currently, Title 8 of the U.S. Code fills in the gaps left by the Constitution. Section 1401defines the following as people who are "citizens of the United States at birth:"
- Anyone born inside the United States *
- Any Indian or Eskimo born in the United States, provided being a citizen of the U.S. does not impair the person's status as a citizen of the tribe
- Any one born outside the United States, both of whose parents are citizens of the U.S., as long as one parent has lived in the U.S.
- Any one born outside the United States, if one parent is a citizen and lived in the U.S. for at least one year and the other parent is a U.S. national
- Any one born in a U.S. possession, if one parent is a citizen and lived in the U.S. for at least one year
- Any one found in the U.S. under the age of five, whose parentage cannot be determined, as long as proof of non-citizenship is not provided by age 21
- Any one born outside the United States, if one parent is an alien and as long as the other parent is a citizen of the U.S. who lived in the U.S. for at least five years (with military and diplomatic service included in this time)
- A final, historical condition: a person born before 5/24/1934 of an alien father and a U.S. citizen mother who has lived in the U.S.
* There is an exception in the law — the person must be "subject to the jurisdiction" of the United States. This would exempt the child of a diplomat, for example, from this provision.
Anyone falling into these categories is considered natural-born, and is eligible to run for President or Vice President. These provisions allow the children of military families to be considered natural-born, for example.
Separate sections handle territories that the United States has acquired over time, such as Puerto Rico (8 USC 1402), Alaska (8 USC 1404), Hawaii (8 USC 1405), the U.S. Virgin Islands (8 USC 1406), and Guam (8 USC 1407). Each of these sections confer citizenship on persons living in these territories as of a certain date, and usually confer natural-born status on persons born in those territories after that date. For example, for Puerto Rico, all persons born in Puerto Rico between April 11, 1899, and January 12, 1941, are automatically conferred citizenship as of the date the law was signed by the President (June 27, 1952). Additionally, all persons born in Puerto Rico on or after January 13, 1941, are natural-born citizens of the United States. Note that because of when the law was passed, for some, the natural-born status was retroactive.
The law contains one other section of historical note, concerning the Panama Canal Zone and the nation of Panama. In 8 USC 1403, the law states that anyone born in the Canal Zone or in Panama itself, on or after February 26, 1904, to a mother and/or father who is a United States citizen, was "declared" to be a United States citizen. Note that the terms "natural-born" or "citizen at birth" are missing from this section.
In 2008, when Arizona Senator John McCain ran for president on the Republican ticket, some theorized that because McCain was born in the Canal Zone, he was not actually qualified to be president. However, it should be noted that section 1403 was written to apply to a small group of people to whom section 1401 did not apply. McCain is a natural-born citizen under 8 USC 1401(c): "a person born outside of the United States and its outlying possessions of parents both of whom are citizens of the United States and one of whom has had a residence in the United States or one of its outlying possessions, prior to the birth of such person." Not everyone agreesthat this section includes McCain — but absent a court ruling either way, we must presume citizenship.
U.S. Nationals
Spiderboenz:
Ah, looks like I missed a line. A citizen and an alien can produce a baby that can become president born outside USA.
This is whole "birther" thing is stupid, anyway.
SpongeBob:
Any one born outside the United States, if one parent is an alien and as long as the other parent is a citizen of the U.S. who lived in the U.S. for at least five years (with military and diplomatic service included in this time)
Seems like it'll be enough to conquer all women in order to turn the whole world one country.
China should really improve the laws. Coz once people become some other nationalities, it'll be so hard to be chinese again. With this logic and the mere fact that many women love to have some mixed babies here in china. It makes me wonder if one day, China will disappear for this reason?
Some scientists think aliens are living in star system KIC bla bla bla. its over 1000 light years away so it would be very hard for any of them to be elected as POTUS.
the current president admitted to being born in africa in a senate debate that the liberal press never mentions and his american mother got him a hawaiian birth certificate, so the legal precedent is already set in stone, the issue is over, for better or worse,
maybe some years from now, we will find out how he got a social security number from connecticut, and never lived or worked there in his entire life.
someone will bring the truth to the light when nobody cares and it's not important anymore.
ambivalentmace:
two downvotes, the birther movement started in pennsylvania by a democratic operative working for the hillary campaign against obama in 2008, this is not a right wing conspiracy, the right just jumped on for the ride, i sold everything in america and left before the election, did not matter what democrat got in office, the people would be scared of government taking their money, money would be held and not spent and the economy would be crap, the puppet running the show would not really matter. trump will probably let apple move their profits back to the us without shaking them down for earnings made in other countries, so things will get better in 368 days. the countdown has already started.
