Barack Obama, SCOTUS

SCOTUS Doesn't Really Care About Obama's Citizenship Status

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Today, the Supreme Court declined to take up the case about whether Barack Obama is constitutionally eligible to serve as President of the United States.

With no public discussion or debate, the Court ignored Donofrio v. Wells — and didn’t bother to explain themselves.

Apparently, the Court takes Justice Thomas about as seriously as the rest of us. According to SCOTUSblog:

In a brief order, the Court, as expected, turned aside a New Jersey voter’s plea for the Court to determine if President-elect Barack Obama was qualified to run for the White House — that is whether he was a “natural born citizen.” The stay application came in the case of Donofrio v. Wells, Secretary of State of New Jersey (08A407). This marked the second time in recent weeks for the Court to turn aside such a challenge; the first came on Nov. 3, in Berg v. Obama (08A391). The Court, in neither instance, gave reasons for turning down the applications. In neither case did the Court seek a reponse, thus indicating it had little interest in either or had found them to be completely without merit.

After the jump, was there a cognizable point to all of this?


Donofrio’s argument was slightly different from other attempts to question Obama’s citizenship status. The WSJ Law Blog reports:

Donofrio’s case takes a different tack. He concedes that Obama was born in Hawaii, as Obama claims. But Donofrio contends Obama is not a “natural born citizen,” as required by Article II, Section I of the U.S. Constitution, according to the story, because he was not exclusively a U.S. citizen at the time of his birth. Obama’s father was a citizen of Kenya, formerly British East Africa, so Obama was a British citizen as well.

He explains his legal theory on the Citizen Wells Web site: “My law suit challenges his status as a ‘natural born citizen’ based upon the fact that his Father was a British citizen/subject. Mr. Obama admits, at his own web site, that he was a British citizen/subject at birth. He was also a U.S. citizen ‘at birth.’ He does not have dual nationality now, but the Constitution is concerned with the candidate’s status ‘at birth,’ hence the word ‘born’ in the requirement.

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Sigh.

What is perhaps more interesting is the question: why the hell is Justice Thomas wasting everyone’s time with these petitions? Isn’t there a black man asking for a civil right somewhere that Thomas can deny?

U.S. views sought on misspent federal funds law [SCOTUSblog]

High Court Bats Down Petition to Hear Obama Citizenship Case [WSJ Law Blog]

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