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McCain ineligible to be President, Ron Paul vs Mike Huckabee for Republican Nominee? |
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Written by James Madison
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Tuesday, 12 February 2008
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 Arizona Senator John McCain was not born in the United States of America but rather born in the Panama Canal Zone to two US Citizens while his father served in the Navy. Does this mean that Republican Presidential Candidate John McCain cannot legally become the President of the United States? Sportsbook.com has listed John McCain has 3 to 2 odds to become the President in 2008 but with this recent news it looks like I am a little closer to cashing my Republican Nominee future bet on Ron Paul at 100 to 1 odds.
Here's what the Constitution of the United States says regarding eligibility for President of the United States:
"Article 2, Section 1, Clause , 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; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States."
The exact definition of "A natural born Citizen" is unclear as stated in the Constitution but as there were no foreign military bases at the time and with the founding fathers' distaste for foreign intervention being clear it seems unlikely they meant anything other than a person having been born in the United States. The 14th Amendment touches on the same issue and states "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States wherein they reside"
That there are two types of U.S. Citizens:
1) Citizens born in the United States.
2) Naturalized US Citizens.
John McCain was born August 29, 1936 in the Panama Canal Zone, to two U.S. citizens. It's a common misunderstanding that the zone was a U.S. territory - in fact, the U.S. had lease rights, but not territorial rights. We must presume John McCain is the latter as he was clearly not born in the United States (A military base in a foreign country is not sovereign US territory.) leaving one to conclude that McCain is actually a 'Naturalized Citizen' and thus ineligible to be either President or Vice President.
Could Panamanian birth mean adios to Senor McCain's presidential hopes? Check of the odds on Mike Huckabee and Ron Paul to win the GOP nomination before the lines move at Sportsbook.com
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 12 February 2008 )
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