by Joseph DeMaio, ©2024 (Apr. 4, 2024) — [Editor’s Note: Please see Part 1 of the author’s in-depth analysis of the captioned article, published in 2015 in the Harvard Law Review Forum by former Solicitors General Neal Katyal and Paul Clement. For additional background, see the author’s previous columns on the subject article here.] Author’s […]
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A Critique of “On the Meaning of ‘Natural Born Citizen'”
by Joseph DeMaio, ©2024 (Apr. 2, 2024) — [Update, 5:58 p.m. EDT April 8, 2024: The last three paragraphs of the following initial segment of the author’s three-part analysis has been amended to reflect a discovered change in the subject article’s footnote #4.] Introduction In 2015, two former high officials in the Office of the […]
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Is Kennedy VP Pick a natural born Citizen?
by Sharon Rondeau (Apr. 1, 2024) — Last Tuesday, Independent 2024 presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. declared he had chosen attorney and philanthropist Nicole Shanahan, 38, as his vice-presidential running-mate. Both are former Democrats, with Kennedy in October changing his party affiliation to “Independent” in what he said was a “very painful” decision he […]
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New York’s Board of Elections Refuses to Correct Inaccurate Presidential Eligibility Term
by Sharon Rondeau (Feb. 10, 2024) — Over more than a decade and a half, New York State citizen, Navy veteran and registered voter Robert C. Laity has attempted to see rectified the incorrect statement on the New York State Board of Elections (NYSBOE) website that one of three presidential eligibility criteria expressed in Article […]
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The USSC Oral Arguments in “Trump v. Anderson”
by Joseph DeMaio, ©2024 (Feb. 9, 2024) — Well, oral arguments have been heard in the Supreme Court in the case of Trump v. Anderson (USSC Doc. 23-719). The case addresses the question of whether President Trump can be excluded from the primary election ballot in Colorado on the claim that Clause 3 of the […]
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The Mooers Comment/Question
by Joseph DeMaio, ©2024 (Jan. 17, 2024) — Introduction Well, the insightful comments (and questions) on the nbC eligibility issue just keep coming. One particularly interesting and thought-provoking question now comes from reader Mooers. He focuses on your humble servant’s assertion in the post that “an nbC was a person born here to two U.S. […]
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Ramaswamy Withdraws, Endorses Trump
by Sharon Rondeau (Jan. 16, 2024) — In the wake of the results of the 2024 Iowa Republican caucuses Monday evening, presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy announced he would suspend his campaign and endorsed fellow candidate, former president and leading Republican primary contender Donald J. Trump. Trump won the caucus vote by a “landslide” of more […]
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Who Can Handle the nbC Eligibility Truth?
by Joseph DeMaio, ©2024 (Jan. 14, 2024) — Introduction As interest continues to once again pick up in the presidential eligibility issue following President Trump’s post suggesting that Nikki Haley might not be a “natural born Citizen” (“nbC”), and thus ineligible, some interesting reactions and observations have surfaced. In this offering, your humble servant will […]
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More News on Bing AI’s Views of an nbC
by Joseph DeMaio, ©2023 (Dec. 9, 2023) — As the issue of what it takes to be a “natural born Citizen” (“nbC”) as intended by the Founders – as contrasted with contemporary wags and academics – continues to be “evaded” by the U.S. Supreme Court, your humble servant persists in interrogating Bing AI on the […]
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The Bing AI Saga Continues
by Joseph DeMaio, ©2023 (Dec. 4, 2023) — Welllll…, the natural born Citizen (“nbC”) issue and the Bing AI responses to related questions continues to evolve. As faithful P&E readers recall, the intrepid Editor recently published a post regarding an email that your humble servant had sent to her. The post addressed, among other things, […]
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Did PragerU Respond to “natural born Citizen” Video Idea?
by Sharon Rondeau (Nov. 14, 2023) — On Monday a citizen who responded to a request for “input” from the non-profit media platform PragerU, a producer of short informational videos with the purpose of presenting an alternative viewpoint of current events, received a reply to his submission. The reader cannot discern from PragerU’s acknowledgement whether […]
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Some Free Advice to Speaker Mike Johnson
by Joseph DeMaio, ©2023 (Oct. 25, 2023) — Finally…, after weeks of telegraphing to the nation…, and the world.., how dysfunctional the GOP House of Representatives can be, that body has actually elected a new Speaker: Cong. Mike Johnson (R. LA). Simultaneously telegraphing its dogmatic and hyper-political disdain for healing the House in these – […]
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The Presidential Candidacy of Shiva Ayyadurai
by Joseph DeMaio, ©2023 (Jul. 18, 2023) — As noted here, earlier this year Dr. Shiva Ayyadurai formed an exploratory committee to “test the waters” for a run as an Independent for president and is now a full-fledged candidate as reflected in Federal Elections Commission (FEC) filings. As also noted, the “long-shot” nature of that […]
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Revisiting Minor v. Happersett
by Joseph DeMaio, ©2023 (Jul. 17, 2023) — Well, faithful P&E readers, here we go again. As another “exploratory” candidate for president appears on the scene – Dr. Shiva Ayyadurai –, it may be prudent to once again revisit the Supreme Court’s 1875 decision in Minor v. Happersett. While the major holding of the case […]
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A Deeper Dive Into the nbC Pond, Part 3
by Joseph DeMaio, ©2023 (Jun. 29, 2023) — [See previous installments in this series here and here. The “CKA” article referred to below can be found here. Emer de Vattel’s “treatise” is “The Law of Nations,” also referenced earlier in the essay. – Ed.] In reality, the notion that a child born anywhere in the […]
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A Deeper Dive Into the nbC Pond, Part 2
by Joseph DeMaio, ©2023 (Jun. 27, 2023) — [Please see Part 1 of this series here. – The “CKA” work referenced throughout is here. – Ed.] The Clement/Katyal Article The Clement/Katyal article – hereafter, for the sake of brevity, “CKA” – sets out, in some thirteen loosely-related contentions spread over four pages, the proposition that, […]
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Revisiting the Heritage Guide to the Constitution
by Joseph DeMaio, ©2023 (May 13, 2023) — Introduction Recently, your humble servant addressed the flawed reasoning of the “Heritage Guide to the Constitution” (“Guide”) set out in its explanatory analysis of Art. 2, § 1, Cl. 5. This, of course, is the Constitution’s “natural born Citizen” (“nbC”) presidential Eligibility Clause, the source of increasing scrutiny […]
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The LoC Kissing Cousin to the Heritage Guide
by Joseph DeMaio, ©2023 (May 8, 2023) — Introduction In addition to the Heritage Foundation’s digital “Guide to the Constitution,” recently discussed by your humble servant here, a “kissing cousin” to that think tank’s explanation exists. Specifically, the U.S. Library of Congress (“LoC”) maintains a similar website purporting to “explain” what the Eligibility Clause of […]
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Revisiting the POPE Option
by Joseph DeMaio, ©2023 (Apr. 18, 2023) — A few weeks ago, your humble servant offered an article suggesting a way of getting the “natural born Citizen” (“nbC”) presidential eligibility issue under Art. 2, § 1, Cl. 5 of the Constitution before the U.S. Supreme Court. As readers of The P&E well know, virtually all […]
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The Goebbels Corollary
by Joseph DeMaio, ©2023 (Mar. 27, 2023) — Introduction Paraphrasing Third Reich Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels: “If you are going to tell a lie, make it a big one, as no one will believe a small one, and repeat it over and over, because eventually people will come to accept it as the truth.” […]