“IMPERIAL, EXECUTIVE AMNESTY”
by Sharon Rondeau
(Nov. 24, 2014) — On Saturday, The Washington Post reported that Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach has begun crafting a legal challenge to executive declarations made by Barack Hussein Obama on Thursday evening which allow up to 5,000,000 illegal aliens a reprieve from normal deportation proceedings and work permits if they “come out of the shadows.”
Kobach reportedly began writing his arguments prior to the announcement with assistance from several other attorneys. The Post’s Eli Saslow described Kobach as “conservative” and as “playing the long game, hoping to build a consensus case against amnesty over the course of his career.”
Educated at Harvard, Oxford (UK) and Yale, Kobach worked at the U.S. Justice Department early in the George W. Bush administration, hosted a radio show and taught law at the University of Missouri in Kansas City. He was elected Secretary of State in November 2010 and re-elected on November 4, 2014.
During his first campaign, Kobach promised to tackle the problem of voter fraud in Kansas, writing a proposal which became law early in his first term requiring voters to show photo identification when casting their ballots. In order to register, Kansans must prove that they are U.S. citizens by presenting a paper birth certificate.
Kobach has represented towns, cities and states in various immigration-related matters around the country.
On Monday, Kobach’s spokeswoman, Samantha Poetter, confirmed to The Post & Email that Kobach is in the process of assembling legal action against Obama’s declared “executive actions” on illegal aliens residing within the country.
Obama’s plan calls for a suspension of deportations which would normally occur for those with U.S.-born children or children accepted into the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program which Obama put in place by means of a memorandum in June 2012 and renewed in June of this year.
DACA was not passed by Congress. Article I, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution states that legislative powers of the federal government are the purview of Congress only. Since 2009, Obama has urged Congress to pass an immigration bill which on Thursday he said would supplant his executive actions.
Kobach contributed to the writing of the Arizona immigration law passed in 2010, some provisions of which were ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2012. However, in an interview with TIME following the ruling, Kobach characterized it as “a qualified victory” and predicted that it would affect other states positively.
Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina crafted legislation on the Arizona measure, with Kobach providing assistance with the Alabama bill, which stipulates that anyone suspected of being an illegal alien must have his status verified by the federal government before deportation proceedings begin.
According to Saslow, Kobach called Obama’s plans “imperial, executive amnesty” and “the sacrificial shredding of our Constitution” after he heard Obama’s Thursday night speech.
In September 2012, Kobach had reviewed a Kansas citizen’s petition to keep Obama’s name off the state ballot based on the claim that Obama “did not meet citizenship requirements.” At the time, Kobach, who chaired the Objections Board which hears election complaints, stated through his spokeswoman that he was obligated by law to consider all ballot challenges presented to the board.
Article II, Section 1, clause 5 states that the president must be a “natural born Citizen.” In his complaint, the petitioner, Joe Montgomery, wrote that Obama failed to meet the definition of “natural born Citizen” because his father was never a U.S. citizen.
Some sources, including members of the media, do not differentiate between the term “Citizen,” which is required of representatives and senators, and “natural born Citizen,” which applies only to the president and later, the vice president by means of the 12th Amendment. When John Jay proposed that the draft of the Constitution be altered to include the term “natural born Citizen,” he stated that it was necessary that the presidency “not be given to, nor devolve on any but a natural born citizen.”
Montgomery also cited claims that Obama’s purported long-form birth certificate, posted on the White House website on April 27, 2011, is a forgery. While not specifically citing the criminal investigation by the Maricopa County, AZ Cold Case Posse beginning in September 2011, Montgomery wrote in his objection that “Mr. Obama has failed to provide any valid, certified documentary evidence to legally establish birth in this country, much less to citizen parents. Further there is substantial evidence showing that much of Mr. Obama’s alleged birth certificates have been forged or doctored, and have not been confirmed as legally valid, true and accurate.”
Montgomery precipitately withdrew his ballot objection after reporting harassment at home and at work, at which time the case was closed and Obama’s name placed on the ballot.
On March 1 and July 17, 2012, respectively, Cold Case Posse lead investigator Mike Zullo and Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio gave joint press conferences during which they revealed the evidence which caused them to conclude that Obama’s long-form birth certificate and Selective Service registration form are “computer-generated forgeries.” The New York Times did not reference the posse’s work, but rather, referred to the claims of forgery as “birther conspiracies” which urged Obama to release what he said was a certified copy of his long-form birth certificate from the Hawaii Department of Health.
Arpaio has already filed a legal challenge to Obama’s executive edicts.
An editorial writer for the Kansas City Star wrote on Sunday that in drafting the legal action, Kobach is “smelling national attention and cash from his other job as a lawyer.” The author, Yael T. Abouhalkah, also claimed that Kobach is abusing his office by working on outside projects on the Secretary of State’s time at taxpayer expense.
Kobach’s re-election campaign website states that “no state tax dollars are used to fund the office of the Secretary of State. We are wholly fee-funded.”
The Post & Email sent several questions to Abouhalkah early on Monday morning but received no response as of press time. We subsequently contacted Poetter to verify that legal action is in progress and to ask for comment on Abouhalkah’s claims, the latter of which we are awaiting.
While The New York Times reported that Kobach’s opponent, Jean Schodorf, and her supporters were “pushing back” against Kobach’s alleged “push to the right,” Kobach was reported to have won with 59% of the vote, the same as in his first election. In an editorial moment, The Times writer stated, “Mr. Kobach has had an outsize influence in states as far-flung as Arizona and Alabama by raising alarms about illegal immigrants stealing elections, a claim without substance, but which, critics say, has led to policies that depress turnout by groups inclined to vote Democratic.” [emphasis The Post & Email’s]
A report highlighted by Judicial Watch late last month appeared to show that the votes cast unlawfully by illegal aliens can affect federal races including U.S. senators, congressmen and the presidency itself.