Monday, 22 November 2004

Amend for that guy

Is amending the constitution to permit naturalized citizens to run for president gathering momentum? Both Kriston of Begging to Differ and Robert Tagorda take note of the group Amend for Arnold and Jen (referring to the governors of California and Michigan, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jennifer Granholm, respectively), spotlighted in today’s New York Times by William Safire.

Interestingly, three proposed constitutional amendments have been introduced during the 108th Congress to do just that:

  • U.S. Rep. Vic Snyder of Arizona Arkansas (and 6 co-sponsors) introduced H.J.Res 59, which would provide that “[a] person who has been a citizen of the United States for at least 35 years and who has been a resident within the United States for at least 14 years shall be eligible to hold the office of President or Vice President.”
  • U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher of California introduced H.J.Res 104, which would provide that “[a] person who is a citizen of the United States, who has been a citizen of the United States for at least 20 years, and who is otherwise eligible to hold the Office of the President, is not ineligible to hold that Office by reason of not being a native born citizen of the United States.”
  • U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah introduced S.J. Res 15, which would provide that “[a] person who is a citizen of the United States, who has been for 20 years a citizen of the United States, and who is otherwise eligible to the Office of President, is not ineligible to that Office by reason of not being a native born citizen of the United States” and include a seven-year limit on the ratification period. The Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the proposed amendment last month.

As a matter of general principle (leaving aside the merits of Schwarzenegger and/or Granholm candidacies, which seem to me to be rather tangential) I think any of these proposed amendments would be sound, and I hope Congress will seriously consider passing such an amendment in the coming months.

8 comments:

Any views expressed in these comments are solely those of their authors; they do not reflect the views of the authors of Signifying Nothing, unless attributed to one of us.

Actually, Vic Snyder is a Congressman from Arkansas, not Arizona. Remember, AR = Arkansas, AZ = Arizona.

 

Huh, you’re right… and I don’t normally make those mistakes.

 

I don’t mind the idea of the amendment—though if I had my option they would pass a line item veto first—but I hope the wording is a little more elegant than the last two listed. We’ll be stuck with the wording forever.

 

Remember “Demolition Man”?
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0106697/quotes

LeninaHuxley: I have, in fact, perused some newsreels in the Schwartzenegger Library.
JohnSpartan: Hold it. The Schwartzenegger Library?
LeninaHuxley: Yes. The Schwartzenegger Presidential Library. Wasn’t he an actor when you…
JohnSpartan: But how? He was President?
LeninaHuxley: Yes! Even though he wasn’t born in this country, his popularity at the time caused the 61st Amendment which states…
JohnSpartan: I don’ wanna know. President.

 

All three versions sound reasonable enough, but I’d like to see an additional requirement that all Presidential candidates, native born or not, be prohibited from dual citizenship. I’m more concerned by divided loyalty today than by past loyalty to foreign states.

 

I don’t know that that’s a serious issue; surely anyone with dual citizenship would face public pressure to renounce their other citizenship even without such a requirement.

 

Maybe. Then again, as recently as summer 2003 I would have assumed it would be an issue for anyone running for governor, too. I also think there’s a value to having sworn off foreign allegiance for some period of time (e.g., 10 years) prior to seeking the nation’s highest office.

 
[Permalink] 8. flaime wrote @ Wed, 24 Nov 2004, 10:02 am CST:

I am opposed to all the amendments. I simply don’t believe that people who came here later in life after being raised with a nationalism for another nation can be trusted to place the interests of this nation above the interests of their native land.

 
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