Today's funny American news:

[theweaselking]

John McCain may not actually be eligible to hold the office of President, since he wasn't born in the USA.

He's definitely a US citizen, was born to American parents on an American military base where his parents were actively serving, and the very first US congress passed a law saying that that counted, but that law itself is long gone and it's never been replaced.

For bonus points: Who'd have standing to challenge his eligibility, anyway? Would they have to sue only if he won, or could they sue before?

Comments

[flemco.livejournal.com]

I intend to sue if he wins.

[flemco.livejournal.com]

I also intend to ride to the courthouse on my unicorn and use my magic wand to give everyone free tickets to Atlantis if he wins.

[publius1.livejournal.com]

The obvious course of action is to retroactively annex Panama.


(moreso since McCain is Republican, I T.R.uly state)

[harald387.livejournal.com]

Amusing note: If he were three years older, Obama might not be eligible either.

[kadath.livejournal.com]

This is why people hate lawyers.

[flemco.livejournal.com]

Well, that and the whole "being a karmic sucking void and making the world a shittier place with every diseased, worthless breath they take" thing.

The lawyers got 800 million

[kadath.livejournal.com]

They're not all bad. I got $25 from a class-action settlement once!

Re: The lawyers got 800 million

[ironphoenix.livejournal.com]

*snerk* Nice.

[a-pawson.livejournal.com]

I think there's a stronger case to be made that Hillary Clinton can't be President until there's a constitutional amendment. The constitution repeatedly refers to the president as "he". If you ask whether the founding fathers intended it to imply "he/she", the answer is an obvious no.

Additionally since the constitution requires the president be a "natural born citizen", would that disqualify anyone who was "from their mother's womb untimely ripped".

[kadath.livejournal.com]

who was "from their mother's womb untimely ripped".

However, they can still become King of Scotland. Which might be a more desirable position at the rate we're going.

[andrewducker]

Sadly, we've already had the last king of scotland...

[anivair.livejournal.com]

The constitution is also written in English, which uses "he" as a default pronoun when gender is unknown.

Though I love the idea that someone could kill MacBeth, but not be president.

[flemco.livejournal.com]

Seconded!

[heptadecagram.livejournal.com]

But was not what the Founding Fathers intended, so strict constructionalists could easily object to it. Plus, there are places where it distinguishes between "male citizens", "persons", and "men".

There's also the matter of the ERA never having been passed. Women only have the right to vote guaranteed by the Constitution, nothing more.

And we only need three more states to ratify it for it to pass. Dammit, Florida, c'mon!

[jerril]

"natural born citizen" is a term of art, distinct from, for instance, a "naturalized citizen", someone who becomes a citizen after birth and I don't know what else it implies, I'm not a laywer.

The meaning of the individual words of a term of art has almost no significance compared to the meaning of the whole phrase. The term could instead be "keelhauled citizen" or even "keelhauled swabbie" and the fact that I'm not a pirate wouldn't make me any less a "keelhauled citizen" of Canada, vs being a "pressganged citizen" of Australia.

Legal English is as peppered with redefinitions of normal English words and phrases as RPGs are.

It's a funny thought, though :D

[torrain.livejournal.com]

Wasn't there something about wanting to prevent misconstruction or abuse of the Constitution's powers? Something about adding further declaratory and restrictive clauses?

Something about how no-one should go around assuming that a right retained by the people was being denied or disparaged just because it was *not* specifically outlined in the Constitution?

I mean, I know it's only the Bill of Rights, but come on.

[publius1.livejournal.com]

The Supreme Court believes the 9th Amendment is a tautology. I respectfully disagree, but w/e.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

Yes. Even though a right is not mentioned in the constitution does not mean you don't have it. The presence of a right in the constitution does not mean that this right is more important than your other rights.

It's the 9th Amendment. It was put in as a sop to the people who insisted on not mentioning ANY rights at all, on the grounds that they'd definitely miss at least a few and that could be bad.

[firebreathnchkn.livejournal.com]

Well, either he will ignore the constitution, but that would never happen.

Or invade Panama (to get the canal since there are reports of terrorists near the Suez Canal) and make Panama retroactively part of the USA.

[publius1.livejournal.com]

A man, a plan, a canal: Panama!

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

A man, a plan, a cat, a canal: Panama!

[kafziel.livejournal.com]

A man, a plan, a caret, a ban, a myriad, a sum, a lac, a liar, a hoop, a pint, a catalpa, a gas, an oil, a bird, a yell, a vat, a caw, a pax, a wag, a tax, a nay, a ram, a cap, a yam, a gay, a tsar, a wall, a car, a luger, a ward, a bin, a woman, a vassal, a wolf, a tuna, a nit, a pall, a fret, a watt, a bay, a daub, a tan, a cab, a datum, a gall, a hat, a fag, a zap, a say, a jaw, a lay, a wet, a gallop, a tug, a trot, a trap, a tram, a torr, a caper, a top, a tonk, a toll, a ball, a fair, a sax, a minim, a tenor, a bass, a passer, a capital, a rut, an amen, a ted, a cabal, a tang, a sun, an ass, a maw, a sag, a jam, a dam, a sub, a salt, an axon, a sail, an ad, a wadi, a radian, a room, a rood, a rip, a tad, a pariah, a revel, a reel, a reed, a pool, a plug, a pin, a peek, a parabola, a dog, a pat, a cud, a nu, a fan, a pal, a rum, a nod, an eta, a lag, an eel, a batik, a mug, a mot, a nap, a maxim, a mood, a leek, a grub, a gob, a gel, a drab, a citadel, a total, a cedar, a tap, a gag, a rat, a manor, a bar, a gal, a cola, a pap, a yaw, a tab, a raj, a gab, a nag, a pagan, a bag, a jar, a bat, a way, a papa, a local, a gar, a baron, a mat, a rag, a gap, a tar, a decal, a tot, a led, a tic, a bard, a leg, a bog, a burg, a keel, a doom, a mix, a map, an atom, a gum, a kit, a baleen, a gala, a ten, a don, a mural, a pan, a faun, a ducat, a pagoda, a lob, a rap, a keep, a nip, a gulp, a loop, a deer, a leer, a lever, a hair, a pad, a tapir, a door, a moor, an aid, a raid, a wad, an alias, an ox, an atlas, a bus, a madam, a jag, a saw, a mass, an anus, a gnat, a lab, a cadet, an em, a natural, a tip, a caress, a pass, a baronet, a minimax, a sari, a fall, a ballot, a knot, a pot, a rep, a carrot, a mart, a part, a tort, a gut, a poll, a gateway, a law, a jay, a sap, a zag, a fat, a hall, a gamut, a dab, a can, a tabu, a day, a batt, a waterfall, a patina, a nut, a flow, a lass, a van, a mow, a nib, a draw, a regular, a call, a war, a stay, a gam, a yap, a cam, a ray, an ax, a tag, a wax, a paw, a cat, a valley, a drib, a lion, a saga, a plat, a catnip, a pooh, a rail, a calamus, a dairyman, a bater, a canal — Panama!

I like this one more.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

A man, a plan, a canoe, pasta, heros, rajahs, a coloratura, maps, snipe, percale, macaroni, a gag, a banana bag, a tan, a tag, a banana bag again (or a camel), a crepe, pins, Spam, a rut, a Rolo, cash, a jar, sore hats, a peon, a canal--Panama!

[atlasimpure.livejournal.com]

Arnold 2012.