Saturday, August 25, 2012

Todd House, MD - Plaintiff Kentucky Obama Ballot Challenge - Personal Statement




I am not a "birther."

I am a Constitutionalist.  The Constitution either means what it says or is relegated to "advisory" status, just as some have done with the Bible.

I am not a religious person which emphasizes that this is an intellectual, legal and historical argument but very pertinent to us today.  The US Supreme Court has the imperative duty to resolve the issue of "Natural Born Citizen" once and for all since the issue is not going away. (e.g. Jindal and Rubio as finalists for Romney VP.)

Article 2 Section 1 Clause 5 of the US Constitution states that only a "natural born citizen" is eligible for the office of the presidency.  Unfortunately, there is no definition of the term in that document.  But the reasons for this unique requirement were and still are well understood.

And, that is the rub for it requires some study of the the history of the Founding, the political philosophy of the era, what influenced the Founders, subsequent precedent(see Minor v Happerset 1875, among others) and plain, old, regular US history to understand the seriousness of the issue and, only then, arrive at an informed opinion.  Regrettably, few seem to have done their homework.  But even those that do, disagree.  And that's ok.  But for an ultimate resolution I look to the US Supreme Court to decide it.  Ergo, my suit. 

By the way, it is interesting to consider the story of Chester A. Arthur, 21st President though he, too, was illegitimate:

from  http://www.art2superpac.com/ --a fantastically informative site with lots of facts and legal arguments

Chester A. Arthur - Not an NBC [Natural Born Citizen] maybe not even an Citizen (just like BHO). He was NOT an Article II NBC since he was born of before his father's naturalization some 14 years after his birth.  (He was installed in the office of the president due to the assassination of President Garfield.)  But based on the facts uncovered in later history,  Arthur was unconstitutionally seated because he had falsified his nativity story and fraudulently held himself out as a Natural Born Citizen.
Chester Arthur's crime was not fully discovered and proven until long after his death as he had burned all his early family records to cover up the deceit.  He was born in 1829,  in VT(though this, too, is in question.)

Smells and tastes alot like Barack Obama--hiding facts and documents in SEALED records (not much different from BURNED, if the records are never un-sealed even one hundred years from now), disputed birthplace and born of alien father.  

Barack Obama Sr., widely known, accepted and admitted by Obama, Jr. himself,  was a Kenyan National/British Subject who returned to Kenya after his education in the US.  He was NEVER a citizen of the US, naturalized or otherwise.  Therefore, Obama, Jr. was born of an alien father which disqualifies him for the office of president of the United States.  (Per Vatel, in Law of Nations (1758) and codified into our jurisprudence by the US Supreme Court in Minor v Happerset (1875), one must be born in the country of two parents who are its citizens to be a natural born citizen.  So, even assuming that Obama, Jr. was born in Hawaii, it matters not at all since he is NOT a natural born citizen by virtue of his father NOT being a US citizen at the time of his birth.)

There are counters to my line of argument that employ the 14th Amendment (1868) to the US Constitution, United States v Wong Kim Ark (1898) and others that have detractors and supporters among very astute and brilliant legal scholars.  

Now, it is clear that the final arbiter of US jurisprudence, the Supreme Court of the United States must have the final word.  Politics of the day should not influence so critical a Constitutional question.

L. Todd House, MD

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