Question 31
True or False: Only natural-born US citizens are eligible to serve as President.
True
False
***NOTE: I changed this question on October 3, 2006 to eliminate the accuracy problem with the previous version, regarding people who are born US citizens outside the US.
True
False
***NOTE: I changed this question on October 3, 2006 to eliminate the accuracy problem with the previous version, regarding people who are born US citizens outside the US.
posted by Crab Rangoon at 10:21 PM
2 Comments:
Just a query re. those not born in the USA and their ability to become President... an article i read some time back about Schwarzenegger's political career said (if my memory is right), that what the Constitution actually says is that no one born outside the USA can RUN for President, thus implying that if the entire nation to decided to write that persons name on their ballots (a write-in vote), they would be legally elected... you might want to check up if this is true or just uninformed gibberish!
The Constitution requires that the President be a natural born citizen of the US. There isn't and wouldn't be any restriction on who can run for an office, but if they don't meet the qualifications for it, they can't serve. There's a current example of this in Kentucky, where in 2004 voters elected a state senator who hadn't lived in the state long enough to serve in the legislature. A judge there ruled that he couldn't take the state senate seat because he didn't meet the residency requirement, and his opponent couldn't have it because she didn't win the election. So the seat has been vacant all year.
There's been talk of repealing the natural born citizen requirement on and off over the years, particularly in the context of Schwarzenegger possibly running for President most recently. But as his political stock has fallen (there's a good chance he may not even be re-elected Governor next year), that talk has dissipated.
What a couple other people have pointed out to me about this question is that people born to American parents outside the US are natural born citizens and thus eligible to be president. I'm checking on that and may need to reword the question.
I usually stick to facts on this site, but I'll depart from that momentarily to offer these opinions of my own: I think the natural born citizen requirement should be repealed, as well as the age requirements for Presidents and members of Congress. I think these limitations restrict freedom and serve little purpose.
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