RE: Arnold will run!

From: Ramez Naam (mez@apexnano.com)
Date: Fri Aug 08 2003 - 10:07:46 MDT

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    From: Brett Paatsch [mailto:bpaatsch@bigpond.net.au]
    > Under Article II [The Presidency]
    > Section 1 [Election, Installation, Removal]
    >
    > "No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the
    > United States, at the time of the adoption of this
    > Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President;
    > neither shall any person be eligible to that office who shall
    > not have attained to the age of thirty five years, and been
    > fourteen Years a resident within the United States."

    Arnold can not become president of the US without a constitutional
    change. What's confusing you is the comma between "citizen of the
    United States" and "at the time of the adoption of this Constitution".
    That comma is an anachronism. If the phrase were rewritten today it
    wouldn't be there.

    What this clause is legally interpreted as meaning is that the only
    people who can become president are:

    1) Those born in the US.

    2) Those who were citizens of the US when the Constitution was
    adopted.

    As a US citizen not born here, I'm quite aware of this restriction. :)

    mez



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