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ImmigrationProf Blog
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Born in the USA: President-Elect Barack Obama and the Birth Certificate Controversy

By immigrationprof

160pxobamabarackFactCheck.Org has an updated posting on the “controversy” over President-Elect Barack Obama’s birth certificate and whether he in fact is a “natural born Citizen” eligible for the Presidency, which does not seem to be going away (despite unsuccessful litigation).  According to the summary:

“In June, the Obama campaign released a digitally scanned image of his birth certificate to quell speculative charges that he might not be a natural-born citizen. But the image prompted more blog-based skepticism about the document’s authenticity. And recently, author Jerome Corsi, whose book attacks Obama, said in a TV interview that the birth certificate the campaign has is “fake.” We beg to differ. FactCheck.org staffers have now seen, touched, examined and photographed the original birth certificate. We conclude that it meets all of the requirements from the State Department for proving U.S. citizenship. Claims that the document lacks a raised seal or a signature are false. We have posted high-resolution photographs of the document as “supporting documents” to this article. Our conclusion: Obama was born in the U.S.A. just as he has always said. Update, Nov. 1: The director of Hawaii’s Department of Health confirmed Oct. 31 that Obama was born in Honolulu.”

By the way, is this the first election in which there has been some discussion about the eligibility as “natural born Citizens” of Presidential candidates of both major parties?  Recall Professor Jack Chin’s article questioning Senator John McCain’s eligibility.Mccain_context

UPDATE  The Supreme Court acts:  “The Supreme Court turned down an emergency appeal Monday from a New Jersey man who claimed that President-elect Barack Obama was not a “natural born citizen” and therefore was ineligible to become president. The setback is the latest for a small group of persistent litigants who want the courts to block Obama from taking office. So far, none of these plaintiffs has convinced any judge that Obama’s assertion that he was born in Hawaii on Aug. 4, 1961, is incorrect.”

KJ