Election Law
Judge Tosses Suit Claiming McCain is not a Citizen
Posted Sep 18, 2008 9:25 AM CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss
A federal judge in San Francisco has tossed a lawsuit that had contended John McCain is not a U.S. citizen and should not be allowed on the ballot.
U.S. District Judge William Alsup said McCain’s birth in the Panama Canal Zone made him a citizen under the relevant statutes, Legal Times reports. “Plaintiff has not demonstrated the likelihood of success on the merits necessary to warrant the drastic remedy he seeks," Alsup wrote.
Alsup also said the plaintiff, an elector pledged to third-party candidate Alan Keyes, did not have standing to challenge McCain’s placement on the ballot. Two other lawsuits claiming McCain does not meet the constitutional requirement for citizenship to be president have also been dismissed on standing grounds, the story says.
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Comments
J.D.
Sep 18, 2008 12:10 PM CST
MEANWHILE, the case questioning Obama’s citizenship—which is a much more complex question—continues to advance.
“The fact that this petition was not dismissed out of hand means that there may be some credible evidence against the citizenship of Presidential hopeful Obama. However, it may just lead to nothing more than the wishful aspirations of the Clinton campaign to knock Obama out of the running before the actual Democratic Convention.”
The case was filed by a Clinton supporter.
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/977502/case_filed_in_court_challenges_barack.html
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scottwww
Sep 18, 2008 4:28 PM CST
The account of McCain’s birth being in Coco Solo is a fabrication. This was popularized by the McCain legal defense team. The fabrication is that he was born in the Coco Solo hospital at the Naval Air Station. However, no hospital existed at Coco Solo until one was built five years after McCain’s birth. Although some people speculated that he must have been born at Colon, the fact of the location of his birth didn’t come out until his birth certificate was produced for the U.S. Circuit Court in New Hampshire in late July 2008. This is still not widely known.
Also, his parents did not live on base. They lived in Colon, Republic of Panama. Colon was not part of the Canal Zone in 1936.
There is a good deal of information available at http://PanamaJohn.dominates.us including McCain’s birth certificate with affidavit, and more.
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Ellen Barshevsky
Sep 18, 2008 6:38 PM CST
This is SILLY! If there was a problem, then how did McCain ever get to be a senator, let alone become a pilot in Vietnam for the Army?
My boyfriend agrees with me they want to persecute Mr. McCain because he choose Palin, a woman as his running mate. I KNEW this was going to happen because Palin is a WOMAN.
NO ONE IS PERSECUTING OBBAMA because he chose a MAN. This shows the POLITICAL EQUALITY GAP between men and women.
I call for a moratorium on all POLITICAL INEQUALITY. THIS IS ONLY FAIR. HILLARY WOULD AGREE IF WE ASKED HER.
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Katrinka Yobotz
Sep 18, 2008 7:15 PM CST
In response to Ellen Barshevsky, (1) The citizenship requirements for the Senate are different - 9 years U.S. citizen. For President it’s “natural born” citizen, not “naturalized” citizen. Even if declared by legislation, it’s still “naturalized” as opposed to “natural born”. There’s an important reason for this having to do with our sovereignty. It reduces the possibility of bias or foreign ties. Yes, it may seem unfair when applied to a given individual, but not everything in life is fair, and we must protect our sovereignty. If we make exceptions because of someone’s wealth or power, the people will eventually come under domination of the few. It is our right, and our duty, to enforce our Constitution.
(2) The suit was filed before McCain’s running mate was chosen.
As J.D. posted, there are some legitimate questions worth asking. It certainly isn’t logical to rely on the two parties in power to resolve the questions - they have a conflict of interest. Although we have a right to know, neither the candidate, the party, nor the court are giving us a chance to find out.
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Native New Yorker
Sep 19, 2008 1:59 PM CST
Ellen Barshevksy: Once again this case has nothing to do with whether a man or a woman is runing for office. Perhaps if you spent a little more time proofreading your work, not using uppercase letters and refrained from commenting on your boyfriend’s thoughts, those of us at ABA Journal Law News might possilby take your comments more seriously or in my case think you are a real person.
Hillary lost. That’s a democracy, not a conspiracy.
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Panama John
Sep 24, 2008 10:15 AM CST
It also was only a lawsuit that had contended John McCain is not a U.S. citizen
and the U.S. District Judge William Alsup said McCain’s birth in the Panama Canal Zone “made him a citizen under the relevant statutes.”
This is really a great ruling - [B]McCain IS a “statutory” citizen [/B](to use Supreme Court language) -
but his constitutional eligibility as the nation executive is what we are still concerned with.
McCain is [I][B]not[/B][/I] “native-born” as the language of U.S. Const. Art. II, 1. has already been interpreted in Supreme Court opinions.
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Panama John
Sep 24, 2008 10:19 AM CST
The local hospital where Mccain was born was in an area known as Colon Beach. The hospital was moved from that location in 1957.
http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/electionlaw/litigation/documents/McCain-SurreplyEx-7-21-08.pdf
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Panama John
Sep 24, 2008 10:27 AM CST
Not silly at all - there is no constitutional requirement for senators to be “native-born”,as in U.S. Const. Art iII, 1. for the nation executive.
Interestingly, a Senator/Congressman requirement was suggested at the Constitutional Convention in 1787 - but was rejected - and ithat provides supplemental proof of the intent for the distinctive requirement for the President which IS part of the U.S. Constitution.
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