By Leo Donofrio
NaturalBornCitizen
February 24, 2011
In September of 2008, the Michigan Law Review published an article by Lawrence Solum, the John E. Cribbet Professor of Law at the University of Illinois College of Law, entitled, “Originalism and the Natural Born Citizen Clause”. The article focused upon the issue of whether John McCain was eligible to be President despite his birth in Panama. The article did not even mention Barack Obama. The direct citation is Michigan Law Review: First Impressions Vol. 107:22 2008.
The opening paragraph of Solum’s article states:
“What was the original public meaning of the phrase that establishes the eligibility for the office of President of the United States? There is general agreement on the core of its meaning. Anyone born on American soil whose parents are citizens of the United States is a ‘natural born citizen.’” (Emphasis added.)
[snip]
CUT TO… OCTOBER 27th 2008.
Solum published the original article in September 2008. But then something happened.
The issue of whether a dual citizen at birth may be considered a natural born citizen had been ignored in the run up to the election – prior to October 27, 2008 – when I brought my law suit, Donofrio v. Wells, against the New Jersey Secretary of State. Up until then, the issue of Obama’s dual citizenship was not on the radar of voters, pundits, or journalists.
By 2010, the dual citizen issue had become common knowledge. Today, four states - Montana, Nebraska, Tennessee and Arizona – have drafted bills requiring Presidential candidates to prove they have never been dual citizens, or that both of their parents were citizens of the United States when the candidate was born. If any of those states actually pass such a law, Obama will not be eligible for inclusion on their ballots.
SOLUM SCRUBS
On April 18, 2010, Solum republished the article under the same exact title but with a vastly different second paragraph.
No comments:
Post a Comment