Nebraska Hops On Birther-Bill Bandwagon

State lawmakers in Nebraska have introduced a "birther" bill aimed at mollifying ongoing concerns that President Barack Obama may not have been born in the United States. While much of the proposed legislation's language resembles that of similar bills in Arizona, Texas, Connecticut and a number of other states, Nebraska's bill has a distinct twist: in addition to the long-form birth certificate of the potential candidate, it requires the long-form birth certificates for both of his or her parents.

According to the McCook Daily Gazette, the bill's sponsor, State Sen. Mark Christensen said Obama is "absolutely" a United States citizen, but his own apprehension lies in the citizenship of the president's parents, who he said may not have been citizens at the time of Obama's birth.

And while that particular consideration appears to carry absolutely no weight in terms of the constitutional requirements for the presidency, that hasn't stopped Christensen from including a provision that would also force candidates to provide a copy of their parents' certified long-form birth certificates. Under Christensen's proposal, if those aren't available, a candidate would be forced to submit an affidavit to the state claiming that there is no doubt about the citizenship of their parents.

According to the Gazette, it only took "two or three e-mails from constituents who are concerned about the persistent rumors that President Barack Obama is not a citizen" to convince Christensen that he needed to address the supposed controversy with a legislative fix.

"Whenever you have a large amount of citizens who have doubts, it hurts our government. It hurts the integrity of the government," Christensen told the Gazette. "For me, it's about following the Constitution and bringing trust into the process and getting people to trust the process so we actually maintain being a republic run by the people."

Christensen is also behind a controversial proposal to allow teachers and administrators to carry concealed firearms in schools.

Comments

[LoadedFurball]

01:14 AM on 02/16/2011

Most conservative Nebraskans are above this...this does not represent the view of at least 90% of Nebraskans

[ZaBeiermann]

09:16 PM on 02/15/2011

I have never been so ashamed to be a Nebraskan

[Kolors]

02:17 PM on 02/08/2011

Some people don't know who their father is. How could they provide an affidavit claiming that there is no doubt about their unknown father's citizenship?

[jizello]

06:55 PM on 02/06/2011

Ok, I'm from Lincoln and am now sick and ashamed to see our state patronizing this idiocy. Head hung low

[thinkingwomanmillstone]

07:39 PM on 02/06/2011

I spent a week in Lincoln for the National Special Olympics Summer Games and enjoyed myself thoroughly but I can't think of going back to Nebraska now. I was born in Iowa and won't visit there either. Without a counter movement by the rational Nebraskans, the right wing nuts cancel out the good will I want to have.

[jizello]

09:02 PM on 02/06/2011

I just had to reply back! I was on the games organizing committe for the S.O. I managed the healthy athletes event! Thank you for volunteering :)

[CessnaDriverI72]

08:14 PM on 02/06/2011

I like Nebraskans.

Haven't spent much time there, but I did change an alternator in the parking lot of an auto parts store in Ogalala and everyone was very nice!

[Argyle Mustache]

06:49 PM on 02/06/2011

...Oh...they're serious? Awkward.

[Chilidawg]

05:46 PM on 02/06/2011

Even the state of Nebraska doesn't issue "Long Form" birth certificates.

[CessnaDriverI72]

08:16 PM on 02/06/2011

"We want absolute proof of natural-born citizenship!"

"OK, here is all the proof you need!"

'NO NO NO! We want OTHER absolute proof!"

Nope, no logical disconnect there.......

[frankath]

04:38 PM on 02/08/2011

When I saw Pres. Obama's BC online, I dragged mine out to compare, and it was almost exactly the same as his. (Different color paper.) Since I've received it, I've gotten a passport, got back into the US from Canada right after 9/11, got access to various forms for family-related issues and all the other things that I've forgotten, in this state and in others, that one uses a BC for and NEVER ONCE was it questioned. I assume, if I were to run for office, THIS would be the birth record that would be required. WHAT is the big hairy deal? Pres. Obama has, what I have and what MOST Americans have for a BC. Why should HE have to provide something different? Makes ZERO sense.

[CessnaDriverI72]

05:07 PM on 02/09/2011

If you're black, you have to prove you weren't born in Kenya.

Don't you know anything?

[LittleMs Random]

05:33 PM on 02/06/2011

Oh Republicans, your idiocy makes me giggle.

[Chilidawg]

05:16 PM on 02/06/2011

The truly funny part of this proposed bill is that it would prevent the republican candidates from being on the ballot as well.

[Rimaroka]

07:00 PM on 02/06/2011

Such as John McCain, who was born in the Panama Canal Zone. I don't consider that part of the US, yet no one objected to him running. All this "birther" crap is horse-hockey.

[CessnaDriverI72]

08:18 PM on 02/06/2011

There is a BC purporting to be Sen. McCain's that shows he was born in Panama proper...but there is some dispute.

His BC may have never been published. What is he trying to hide?

[Chilidawg]

05:28 PM on 02/06/2011

Yawn. Got any proof to support your claims?

Nope?

Too Bad, So Sad.

[CessnaDriverI72]

08:17 PM on 02/06/2011

John McCain.

[ZonaCumia]

05:48 PM on 02/06/2011

I am sure a tea bagger has some kind of proof...something to back this up. SOMETHING.

[Chilidawg]

05:10 PM on 02/06/2011

Born in January 1860 on an Indian Reservation near Topeka, Kansas Territory prior to the arrival of statehood in January 1861, Charles Curtis was nearly half American Indian in ancestry. His mother, Ellen Papin (also spelled Pappan), was one-fourth French, one-fourth Kaw, one-fourth Osage, and one-fourth Pottawatomie. His father, Orren Curtis, was an American of English, Scots and Welsh ancestry. On his mother's side, Curtis was a descendant of Kaw Chief White Plume and Osage Chief Pawhuska.

Was he a "Natural Born Citizen?"

Charles Curtis was elected Vice President Under Herbert Hoover in 1939.

[Chilidawg]

05:21 PM on 02/06/2011

oops, that should read 1929, not 1939.

[CessnaDriverI72]

08:19 PM on 02/06/2011

Elected in 1928, inaugurated in 1929.

[Liza DiSavino]

05:03 PM on 02/06/2011

Oh, and it wasn't too many years ago that Republicans were moving to take out the "Natural Born" clause altogether, because at the time Schwarznegger was popular, and they were thinking of running him. Apparently this an issue of convenience.

[Chilidawg]

05:14 PM on 02/06/2011

The "Governator" is no longer popular with the hard right.

[Milo40]

01:21 AM on 02/08/2011

Rep. Vic Snyder introduced a separate, yet similar, measure in the House a month earlier. Co-sponsored by Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.),

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/10/24/opinion/main579874.shtml

[Liza DiSavino]

05:01 PM on 02/06/2011

Reposting TWREXX. This clears up the issue nicely:

From usconstitu­tion.net (irrelevan­t criteria removed):

"Currently­, Title 8 of the U.S. Code fills in the gaps left by the Constituti­on. Section 1401 defines the following as people who are "citizens of the United States at birth:"

Anyone born inside the United States *
Any one born outside the United States, both of whose parents are citizens of the U.S., as long as one parent has lived in the U.S.
Any one born outside the United States, if one parent is a citizen and lived in the U.S. for at least one year and the other parent is a U.S. national
Any one found in the U.S. under the age of five, whose parentage cannot be determined­, as long as proof of non-citize­nship is not provided by age 21
Any one born outside the United States, if one parent is an alien and as long as the other parent is a citizen of the U.S. who lived in the U.S. for at least five years

Anyone falling into these categories is considered natural-bo­rn, and is eligible to run for President or Vice President.­"

The birthers never had, and never will have, a leg to stand on. Period. Full stop.

[PostModernGuy]

05:33 PM on 02/06/2011

Thanks! That certainly is a lot clearer than other 'explanations' I've seen, all of which try to paint Obama as not being a citizen...

[Liza DiSavino]

04:57 PM on 02/06/2011

Last gasp of folks who think the country should only be run by white people. Sorry. That's the truth.

Obama was born in Hawaii. Get over it.

[ronkw]

05:20 PM on 02/06/2011

Last gasp?
to follow and tighten the law....with more States getting on board
Last gasp....hardly

[Chilidawg]

05:32 PM on 02/06/2011

This bill won't even make if committee. None of the state bills will pass.

[CessnaDriverI72]

08:25 PM on 02/06/2011

Why would this law need to be "tightened"?

Did you object to St. Ronald's birth certificate, issued when he was 31 on the attestation of his brother who was 3 at the time of St. Ronnie's birth?

[Milo40]

01:25 AM on 02/08/2011

The original "birthers" were actually Democrats. Are they the people you are talking about?

The 'Birthers' Began on the Left

"Investigations for my new book, Wingnuts, revealed that the Birther conspiracy theory was first concocted by renegade members of the original Obama haters, Party Unity My Ass, known more commonly by their acronym, the PUMAs. They were a splinter group of hard-core Hillary Clinton supporters who did not want to give up the ghost after the bitter 50-state Bataan Death March to the 2008 Democratic nomination."

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-02-08/the-secret-history-of-the-birthers/full/

[pup sydney]

04:57 PM on 02/06/2011

These will create so many jobs and fix the budget not.

[Liza DiSavino]

04:55 PM on 02/06/2011

to KirkRR.
Wow.

First, the Alien and Sedition Acts expired in 1801. What will you argue next, that Obama is really only 3/5 of a human being under the original intent of the Constitution?

Second, Obama's stepfather, his mother's second husband, was Indonesian, hence the move there.

Third, your definition of Natural Born Citizen is not to be found in the Constitution. By your definition, our first, second, third, fourth, and fifth Presidents were not Natural Born Citizens either, since they were born to parents who were subjects of the British Empire, and numbers2,3,4, and 5 were born British subjects themselves. Wipe them from the history books, or put asterisks next to their names - they're toast!

Fourth, if this stands, then anyone born in Hawaii is ineligible to run for President because they likely do not have a long form. I myself was born in New Jersey and do not have a long form. It's a simple suit: equal protection under the law. You know, the one W used to get himself appointed President.

Fifth, no one was upset that John McCain was born in Panama. Only Obama. Hmm...wonder why?

Sixth, it never ceases to amaze me that Republicans will not hesitate to pass sweeping laws, no matter how unfair, in order to have their way. This is a blatant attempt to prevent Obama from being re-elected, just as the two-term law was passed to keep FDR from being re-elected. And it won't stand.

[Milo40]

01:27 AM on 02/08/2011

"Third, your definition of Natural Born Citizen is not to be found in the Constituti­on. By your definition­, our first, second, third, fourth, and fifth Presidents were not Natural Born Citizens either, since they were born to parents who were subjects of the British Empire, and numbers2,3­,4, and 5 were born British subjects themselves­. Wipe them from the history books, or put asterisks next to their names - they're toast!"

Thus the reason for the grandfathering in clause, so say the "birthers"

[kirkrr]

10:57 PM on 02/15/2011

First - the Alien Sedition Act is not in question here - it is the legal definition of the term "Natural Born Citizen" as defined in the legal context.

Twp: The legal guardian - in this case, his stepfather - controlled the defined Indonesian citizenship requirement to attend school.

Three: The Constitution specifically defined the early President's situation. "a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President". There is only one place in the Constitution that references "Natural Born Citizen" - there are 5 distinct references to "Citizens" - uniquely different.

Four: I was required to provide my long form birth certificate to be granted a high level US government security clearance. A document that could be issued to any person born in any country, certifying birth, but not location of birth, was unacceptable. The requirement threshold for President should be equally as high.

Fifth: McCain, once confirmed as a candidate for President, went through a comprehensive Congressional Investigation as to his eligibility. The result was confirmed eligibility, but with a number of open questions as to his place of birth and it's legitimacy regarding eligibility to serve.

Sixth: The law was put in place 240+ years ago, to ensure that a foreign national or a person of divided loyalty, would not be in charge of the US Government. What is unfair about restricting what country the head of state is from?