Whew... Obama can still be President - Supreme Court declines case

Whew...

Good news for Barack Obama fans.  It turns out that the $750 million he raised to become President paid off.  He can still be President of the United States (even if he does smoke a cigarette now and then).

Supreme Court

The Supreme Court has decided not to hear a lawsuit challenging Barack Obama's citizenship.  Here's a copy of the document.

This means if you are traveling out to see his inauguration, don't cancel your plane tickets just yet.  It appears the ceremonies are still on.

No tinfoil 

The suit, filed by Leo Donofrio of East Brunswick, N.J., charged that Obama is not a natural born U.S. citizen.

Now, he's not one of those tinfoil-hat wearing people who claim Obama was born in Indonesia.  He acknowledges that the President-elect was born in Hawaii.

Then what's all the confusion?  As far as we can tell, Hawaii was still admitted to the Union in 1959.  And Barack Obama was born in 1961 (in Hawaii).   Sure, we're not rocket scientists here at The Vote (although some people think we think Germany bombed Pearl Harbor), but it seems kosher to us.

Clarity

What does Donofrio allege?

Obama had dual nationality at birth.  His father was a British subject at the time of his birth and his mother was a U.S. citizen.

Donofrio outlines his argument concisely on his blog in a letter to ABC News:

The main argument of my law suit alleges that since Obama was a British citizen - at birth - a fact he admits is true, then he cannot be a “natural born citizen”.  The word “born” has meaning.  It deals with the status of a presidential candidate “at birth”.

Obama had dual nationality at birth.  The status of the candidate at the time of the election is not as relevant to the provisions of the Constitution as is his status “at birth.”  If one is not “born” a natural born citizen, he can never be a natural born citizen."

Never say never

Just like James Bond, Donofrio is not one to never say never again even if tomorrow never comes.  There are two other cases at the Supreme Court.

Donofrio has his eye on the Wrotnowski v. Connecticut Secretary of State case.  He worked on this case.

Says Donofrio:

"If [Wrotonowski's] application is also denied then the fat lady can sing.  Until then, the same exact issue is before [the Supreme Court] as was in my case.  [Wrotonowski's] application before [the Supreme Court] incorporates all of the arguments and law in mine, but we improved on the arguments in [Wrotonowski's] quite a bit as we had more time to prepare it. "

What next?

No word on when the other cases might get attention.  But so far, so good for Barack Obama.  Although some conspiracists may find it interesting that Joe Biden hasn't resigned from his Senate seat yet...

By the way, had John McCain won, we'd likely see the same thing happening.  Donofrio claims that McCain isn't eligible for the office as well.