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U.S. Congress moves to clarify the rules : Natural Born 2004

hypocritexposer

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U.S. Congress moves to clarify the rules : Just how 'American' must a president be?
By Elizabeth Olson
Published: WEDNESDAY, JUNE 2, 2004

WASHINGTON: The U.S. Constitution specifies that only a "natural born citizen" can become president of the United States, and after more than two centuries of uncertainty about the phrase, Congress is taking steps to clarify its meaning.

As the United States has become more diverse, speculation has bubbled up in presidential races over whether contenders like Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, who was born to American parents in the Panama Canal Zone, are eligible for the nation's highest office.

Arnold Schwarzenegger, whose name surfaced in presidential speculation after he won California's governorship, is now barred from the country's top post because he was born in Austria and only obtained American citizenship in 1983.

The constitutional wording has left doubts about whether those born on foreign soil are on an equal footing with those whose birth occurred inside the country's borders, and whether they have the same rights.

Senator Don Nickles, Republican of Oklahoma, wants to spell out, once and for all, who is a natural born American.

"We should not wait for an election to be challenged," Nickles said when he introduced his legislation in February, "and the courts to then decide what 'natural born' means."

His Natural Born Citizen Act would include children born outside the United States to citizen parents or parents able to transfer their citizenship. That would include McCain, whose parents were citizens, as well as an estimated two million others who, according to government figures, have been born to U.S. parents living and working overseas.

Such clarification "provides comfort and certainty to members of the American military and foreign services," Nickles explained, "as well as expatriate families, that their children, too, are eligible to run for president.

"These children are no less qualified than children born on American soil, and they should not be treated differently," he said.

Although it is generally accepted that birth-right citizenship includes both those born on U.S. soil and overseas to U.S. citizen parents, it was not always the case, said T. Alexander Aleinikoff, a constitutional scholar who will shortly become dean of Georgetown University Law School in Washington.

It took Congress until 1790 to pass the Immigration and Naturalization Act, he said, which gave citizenship to children born overseas — but only when the father was a U.S. citizen. In 1934, it was extended to include the children of mothers who were American citizens.

But whether people born in those circumstances can serve as president has never been set in legal concrete because it has never been challenged, said Aleinikoff, who specializes in citizenship issues.

"The Constitution does not say you have to be born in the United States, so there is room to decide what 'natural born' means, but the informal interpretation that we all accept has never been tested," he said.

"Clearly, though, Article 3 of the Constitution indicates anybody who is naturalized is not natural born, and this is a ridiculous provision," he said in an interview. "Foreign born people have served as governors of states that are larger than many countries."

Currently about 11 percent of the U.S. population, or about 28 million people, were born outside the United States. That means that about 1 in 10 U.S. residents cannot run for president, a fact that has grabbed the attention of the growing number of adoptive parents of children born abroad.

When their children learn about the U.S. government in school, many begin to realize that part of the American dream can never be theirs – that you can grow up to be anything, including president.

The Constitution's restrictions, said 9-year-old Maria Rinehart-Jones, who was adopted from China and now lives in New York, are "a bad idea because not all Americans who run for president will be as good at it as a Chinese American might be."

"And, if they don't change the law," she said, "no one will ever know that."

The number of foreign-born children adopted by Americans rose to more than 21,000 last year. Adoption groups estimate that over that past 15 years, about 190,000 children have been adopted into American homes.

The legislation "underlines how Americans look at families with adopted kids," said David Youtz, president of Families with Children from China of Greater New York. "Adopted kids are not to be denied the same rights as biological children."

The Constitution specifies that in addition to being "natural born," the president must be 35 years old and with a minimum 14-year residency in the country. The same applies to the vice president.

Nickles's legislation, inspired by an aide who adopted two children from Eastern Europe, does not address immigrants' right to hold America's highest office. But his colleague Orrin Hatch, Republican of Utah, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, last year introduced a constitutional amendment to loosen the prohibition on foreign-born citizens serving as president.

The Constitution's framers chose the term "natural born" not only to highlight the need for allegiance, but also to eliminate the possibility that foreigners could exert power over the fledgling government, according to constitutional experts. Since then, immigrants have served in the highest posts in nearly every other facet of American life.

Hatch's proposal would allow anyone who has been a U.S. citizen for 20 years, and completed 14 years of residency to serve as president. (Earlier legislative proposals, also yet to be passed, would require immigrants to be naturalized for 35 years before becoming eligible to be president.)

But Nickles figures that his bill may have a better chance of becoming law quickly because amending the Constitution is typically a years-long process requiring two-third votes in each House of Congress and approval by 38 states.
 
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