Court Rejects Obama Ineligibility Appeal

(CBS/AP)  The Supreme Court has turned down an emergency appeal from a man who says President-elect Barack Obama is ineligible to be U.S. president because he was a British subject at birth.

The court did not comment on its order Monday rejecting the call by Leo Donofrio to intervene in the presidential election.

Donofrio says that since Obama had dual nationality at birth - his mother was American and his Kenyan father at the time was a British subject - he cannot possibly be a "natural born citizen," one of the requirements the U.S. Constitution lists for eligibility to be president.

"This is the least surprising move by the Supreme Court in years," said CBS News legal analyst Andrew Cohen. "No serious legal scholar believed that the Justices would take the case and overturn the election."

Donofrio also contends that two other candidates, Republican John McCain and Socialist Workers candidate Roger Calero, also are not natural-born citizens and thus ineligible to be president.

At least one other appeal over Obama's citizenship remains at the court. Philip J. Berg argues that Obama was born in Kenya, not Hawaii as Obama says and the Hawaii secretary of state has confirmed.

Berg says Obama also may be a citizen of Indonesia, where he lived as a boy. Federal courts in Pennsylvania have dismissed Berg's lawsuit. Federal courts in Ohio and Washington state have rejected similar lawsuits.

Allegations raised on the Internet say the birth certificate, showing that Obama was born in Hawaii on Aug. 4, 1961, is a fake.

But state officials in Hawaii say they checked health department records and have determined there is no doubt Obama was born in Hawaii.

The nonpartisan Web site Factcheck.org examined the original document and said it does have a raised seal and the usual evidence of a genuine document.

In addition, Factcheck.org reproduced an announcement of Obama's birth, including his parents' address in Honolulu, that was published in the Honolulu Advertiser on Aug. 13, 1961.

[ofbyfor3]

Fight the arrogance! Use your Constitutional right of freedom of speech and send this article and video clip to as many as you know! Let the electoral college know they are about to deliberately ignore the Constitution by putting Obama in the Whitehouse!

Posted by Christ_Truth at 12:25 AM : Dec 10, 2008

Idiot! Your own source (worldnetdaily.com) has already been on record as verifying that Obama''s birth certificate is legit.

Get over it, sore loser!

[abbe91]

Wow. I didn''''t know that the popular vote determined the presidency. Shows how much you know about American government and how the electoral college system works.
What are they teaching you people in schools nowadays anyhow? Besides revisionist history, of course?
Posted by Christ_Truth at 12:29 AM : Dec 10, 2008

Well, you should remember that Florida was the key state in 2000 and Bush indeed got appointed president by the Florida supreme court.

In 2004, he was appointed by Diebold in Ohio.

[misha128-2009]

Posted by stlouisman3 at 03:58 PM : Dec 09, 2008

By the way this is a dumb game -- the Supreme Court never loses -- they have the option to determine their own schedule and re-decide any case they consider appropriate that is appealed to them. Only the plaintiff and the defendents have a "win-loss" measurement in the decision and the values there can be fractional.

[misha128-2009]

Obama 1
COonstitution 0

Posted by stlouisman3 at 03:58 PM : Dec 09, 2008

As the Supreme Court is the ultimate source for interpretation of the laws and the Constitution your score is in error. Since the Supreme Court determined they had no additional input and needed to provide no additional consideration of the issue your score is clearly should be 1-1.

[cheteunice]

Obama 1
COonstitution 0

[libra217]

Not to mention that Obama''s very own "Fight the Smears" website ADMITTED his Kenyan citizenship until 1982.

Posted by Christ_Truth at 12:43 AM : Dec 09, 2008

Clearly you are a TROLL, just trying to get attention and rile people up.

Several posters dealt with you IN DETAIL on this issue of the supposed Kenyan citizenship a couple days ago. Yet you are bringing it up again as if nothing happened or got through to you.

I suggest that posters stop replying to "Christ-Truth" as he is totally impervious to input. With such a person, no discussion is possible.

[actornaught]

...and Gore invented the internet.
Posted by TheMajority1 at 11:14 AM : Dec 09, 2008

why repeat this neocon hate-radio phony quote...

[mikemo1947]

usclimey - We don''t elect presidents by popular vote. We would have to change the Constitution.

[usclimey]

Wow there''''''''''''''''s a shocker, the courts have rejected the will of the people again. Had this been a case against Bush along the same lines, I''''''''''''''''m sure they would''''''''''''''''ve obliged.

Christ_truth (the most hypocritical screenname ever)

Actually, if you remember the USSC did oblige Bush in 2000 by creating him president. This subverted the will of the people in that Gore won the popular vote.

[mikemo1947]

Christ_Truth - Please use another name. Christ is truth and what you say are distortions from the truth. You said "the courts have rejected the will of the people again", which is a distortion because the election we just had showed the will of the people. You said "Obama''''s very own "Fight the Smears" website ADMITTED his Kenyan citizenship until 1982", distortion, he admitted that he had rights to Kenyan citizenship because his father, but he never acted on it so it was revoke at age 18. He admitted he had US citizenship because his mother was an American and he was born in America. He never rejected his US citizenship. You indicate that Obama is preventing us from knowing his citizenship, but he has not. His birth certificate has always been available to those with authority in Hawaii and federal agencies. Why should the Courts make Obama bring it to court when there is no evidence that he is not a US citizen and when government officials already know he has a legitimate US birth certificate. If you are a real Christian then you will stop distorting the truth or stop using His name in vain.