State Supreme Court deciding if politician 'ineligible' for office

State Supreme Court deciding if politician 'ineligible' for office

Ruling to determine whether elected secretary of state properly registered

Bob Unruh

A ruling awaited from the Indiana Supreme Court is expected to determine whether Secretary of State Charlie White will remain in office after a lower court decided he was ineligible at the time he was elected.

Marion County Circuit Court Judge Louis Rosenberg previously ruled White was ineligible to be on the 2010 ballot and Democratrunner-up, Vop Osili, should be declared the winner.

The case was moved up to the state Supreme Court today, and its eventual ruling is expected to gather much attention. While the specific situation is different, the issue of removing an elected official from office over eligibility has been dogging Barack Obamasince before his inauguration in 2009.

Obama's critics argue that he doesn't meet the Constitution's requirement that a president be a "natural-born citizen." He, therefore, can't be impeached, they further contend, because he never should have been installed in the Oval Office.

White has been confronted with series of other problems, including a pending trial in Hamilton County where there are voter fraud and perjury counts lodged against him. A spokesman for White's office told the Journal & Courier newspaper of Lafayette, Ind., that the situation was "unprecedented."

The controversy began when Democrats alleged before the 2010 election that White was guilty of voter fraud by voting in a precinct where he didn't live. While White won the election by hundreds of thousands of votes, Democrats continued to insist he never was registered correctly.

He was scolded by the Indiana Recount Commission, but that decision said state law required only that he be registered in the state. Judge Rosenberg, a Democrat, thought otherwise.

He ruled that White was not registered properly in time for the election in which he was a candidate.

"The fact that Mr. White knowingly registered in the wrong precinct is sufficient to render him ineligible for the office of secretary of state," he ruled.

Numerous court cases have been filed against Obama over his occupancy in the White House. But none has succeeded yet even in reaching the point of discovery where plaintiffs' might determine whether concealed documentation for Obama reveals his status.

Some say he was not born in Hawaii as he has maintained and, therefore, is not eligible. Other critics say the Constitution's "natural born citizen" requirement means that since his father never was a U.S. citizen, he wouldn't qualify under any circumstances.

There are impeachment campaigns that have been launched encouraging his removal from office, but others say he doesn't even qualify for impeachment, as a lack of eligibility should mean he never was president.

The Indiana decision, when it eventually is released, however, is not the only precedent that courts will have available.

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