The Meaning Of "Natural Born Citizen" And What It Means For Obama's Eligibility

A historian and former journalist, Judah Benjamin (a pseudoname), has put together a scholarly paper on the meaning of the requirement in Article II of the U.S. Constitution that a person be a "natural born citizen" in order to serve as president of the United States and what it means for Sen. Barack Obama's eligibility for our nation's highest office. The paper is laid out in a two-part series at the Texas Darlin blog. You will likely find his conclusion's about the meaning of "natural born" surprising and be even more surprised by his conclusion that Obama became an Indonesian citizen after his mother married his step father and moved the family to Jakarta when Obama was six years old. Benjamin readily admits he is not a lawyer, but his well-researched paper was reviewed by a constitutional lawyer at Columbia University and an expert on Indonesian law.

Benjamin concludes that Obama is barred by Article II from serving as president of the United States. His argument can be summed up as follows:

Barack Obama has been a citizen of multiple nations. And even if his citizenship outside the US was renounced, Article II of the U.S. Constitution prohibits him from being President, for the same reason that naturalized citizens are prohibited: divided loyalties.

Article II reads, “No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President." Benjamin goes to great pains in his paper to explain this clause does not have anything to do with the location where you were born; rather, it's about one's allegiance and loyalty to the United States. Quoting Justice Swayne from a precedent-setting case, U.S. v. Rhodes, explaining Article II: “All persons born in the Allegiance of the King are Natural- Born subjects, and all persons born in the Allegiance of the United States are Natural-Born Citizens. Birth and Allegiance go together. Such is the Rule of the Common Law, and it is the Common Law of this Country…since as before the Revolution.” Dual nationality, according to Benjamin's article, is "impossible as a condition". That's why persons who have become naturalized citizens are ineligible to be president Benjamin explains--because they have had allegiance to another country. To the extent any law passed by Congress runs counter to this understanding, Benjamin reminds us the Constitution will always trump a statute no matter how long ago it was written or what people think of its import today.

Benjamin takes time in his article to address the brush up in the liberal media over Sen. John McCain's eligibility to serve under Article II because of his birth in the Panama Canal Zone. McCain’s parents, Benjamin explains were "serving as agents, or ambassadors, of their country while serving in the Panama Canal Zone." Because McCain's parents had been sent to the Panama Canal Zone by our government, their child "born abroad" would always be considered a "natural born" citizen. To the extent McCain may have also been considered a "dual citizen" under Panamanian law, Benjamin says that status would have been washed away when he joined the U.S. Navy. Benjamin dismisses the notion that the 14th Amendment in any way altered the requirement in Article II as suggested on Sen. Obama's Fight The Smears website and elsewhere.

In Benjamin's analysis, Obama's problem has nothing to do with whether he was born in the U.S. For purpose of his analysis, he assumes Obama was born in Hawaii as he claims. Obama's problem, according to Benjamin, is that he has been a citizen of more than one country. And Benjamin's main point of contention on this does not rest with his father's Kenyan nationality but rather his conclusion that Obama became an Indonesian citizen. What? Yes, that's what Benjamin believes based upon everything he has been able to review that is available in the public record. Benjamin focuses on Obama's school records from STLP Asisi, his first Elementary School. Benjamin says it is undisputed that his school records include the following information:

He was enrolled on January 1st 1968, given Serial No 203 and placed in Class 1 B. His Religion is given as Islam, his Nationality Indonesian, his Father’s Name as L Soetoro Ma., his Father’s Occupation as Official, Director General’s Office TNI [Topography Division Indonesian Army] and his Name as Barry Soetoro.

Based upon Benjamin's analysis of Indonesian law, Obama had to have been adopted by his step father and changed his name to Soetoro. Under Indonesian law, Obama automatically became an Indonesian citizen when his step father adopted him. Further, Benjamin supports his contention based upon who was eligible to attend a state-run school at which he was later enrolled--only Indonesian citizens. But how could Obama have later re-entered the U.S. as a U.S. citizen and remained here all of these years? Benjamin surmises that Obama's mother retained a U.S. passport for him, which he was issued based upon his birth in the state of Hawaii. He left Jakarta using his Indonesian passport as Barry Soetoro when he was ten years old and entered the U.S. on his American passport as Barack Obama, a practice Benjamin describes as common but not legal. "There is clear prima facie evidence that Senator Barack Hussein Obama has held at least two Citizenships, American and Indonesian, Benjamin concludes. "Under Article II of the Constitution that disqualifies him for POTUS, and it should."

Benjamin makes some interesting observations about the resolution the U.S. Senate passed earlier this year to declare Sen. McCain a "natural born" citizen within the meaning of Article II and, thus, eligible to serve as president. "Why were Democratic Senators trying to pass a Resolution making Senator McCain undoubtedly legally eligible when this issue had already been cleared up in 2000 and again in 2004?" Benjamin asks. He notes a particular recital Sen. Obama and Sen. McCaskill insisted on adding to the resolution: “Whereas previous presidential candidates were born outside of the United States of America and were understood to be eligible to be President". According to Benjamin, based upon news reports, Obama and McCaskill attempted to remove from the resolution this recital: "Whereas John Sidney McCain, III, was born to American citizens on an American military base in the Panama Canal Zone in 1936.” "It seems clear that McCaskill and Obama were attempting to create a blanket Resolution covering ALL Foreign Born candidates," Benjamin opines. McCain did not need this resolution in Benjamin's view.