Thursday, July 23, 2009

The Right Way to Amend the Constitution, part 5


This is part five of an ongoing series of articles containing proposals for amendments to the Constitution. For someone who claims so fervently to be a “Constitutionalist”, how is it that I can be so eager to change the Constitution? Well, there are several reasons. For one thing, I believe that after the Bill of Rights, much damage was done by some of the amendments that were added and the legitimacy of some of their ratifications are questionable. Secondly, the Constitution has been violated so much that the necessity of further amendments is needed to resolve the resulting problems. But this should be done extremely cautiously. These amendments are extremely unlikely to ever be introduced, much less ratified, but hey, I can dream, can’t I?

The title for this week’s proposed article of amendment (subject to revision) is The Audacity of Legitimacy Amendment, the text of which follows:

Section 1: For purposes of this article, the term Electoral College in Dispute shall refer to the Presidential vote of the Electoral College on December 15, 2008 and all other Electoral College votes in which Barack Hussein Obama was chosen by at least one Elector.

Section 2: For purposes of this article, the term
de facto shall refer to what would be the case in regards to the result of the election of the President if the result declared by the presiding officer at the Joint session of Congress certifying any Electoral College in Dispute had been in accordance with the Constitution in regards to the natural born citizenship of Barack Hussein Obama.

Section 3: The
de facto President shall be removed from the office of President and shall cease acting as President immediately upon ratification of this article.

Section 4: The House of Representatives shall, within 48 hours of the ratification of this article, select a President in the manner described in Article II section 1 Clause 3 and elsewhere in this Constitution as if no Person had received a majority of votes in the last
Electoral College in Dispute. The President so selected shall be elected to complete the remainder of the term held by the de facto President.

Section 5: If the Person selected as President in section 4 of this article is the
de facto Vice President at the time of the ratification of this article, the Senate shall chose by ballot a new Vice President. The Vice President so selected shall be elected to complete the remainder of the term held by the de facto Vice President. Otherwise, the de facto Vice President shall be the Vice President.

Section 6: Any law enacted by the United States, action in the capacity of President taken by the
de facto President, or action taken by the United States under orders from the de facto President acting in the capacity of President, while he was de facto President shall become inoperable 30 days from the ratification of this article unless affirmed by the President selected as prescribed by section 4 of this article within 15 days of this selection to the Presidency.

Section 7: If a Person other than Barack Hussein Obama holds the office of President at the time of the ratification of this article, then sections 3, 4, 5, and 6 of this article shall be inoperable and all laws enacted by the United States, all actions taken by Barack Hussein Obama in the capacity of President, all actions taken under orders from Barack Hussein Obama while acting in the capacity of President, and all Presidential election results with respect to an
Electoral College in Dispute shall be as operable as if Barack Hussein Obama had been elected to the office of President in accordance with the Constitution.

Section 8: Barack Hussein Obama shall never hold the office of President or Vice President at any time subsequent to the ratification of this article.

Commentary on this proposed amendment:

I believe that it explains itself pretty well. It would inadequate to impeach Mr. Obama at this time, since that would leave all the legislation that he has signed into law and other actions in limbo as far as whether or not they are to be recognized as legitimate. Besides a Constitutional amendment, a fifty state secession is the only other remedy that I can think of to resolve this perplexing question.

I was tempted to put in something that would say that if Mr. Obama were to come up with a birth certificate and if it would be upheld as authentic in the Supreme Court, then the whole article would become inoperable. But the fact that his inaction on the issue is in itself a violation of the Constitution and that he has violated the Constitution in many other ways, he deserves to be impeached even if he really is, in fact, a natural born citizen. Furthermore, it would complicate things as far as what should happen if some of the terms of this amendment were carried out and then the birth certificate came forth.

Section 7 is regrettable, but necessary so that if the amendment did not pass until many years had passed, there would not be continuing disputes about the legitimacy of Mr. Obama’s actions taken under the guise of being President of the United States. The main point of this article is to ensure that drastic consequences don’t take place as a result of this situation.
...
For further analysis of this amendment and to continue reading this series, click here.

3 comments:

  1. Anonymous3:24 AM

    Hate to burst your bubble, lad, but Mr. Obama IS a natural born American citizen.

    In the State of Hawaii a Certificate of Live Birth is legal and binding documentation that that person was actually born on U.S. soil.

    If you don't believe me, then contact that state ad ask them.

    I did.

    ReplyDelete
  2. But that should up to the Supreme Court decide. They have never ruled on what the meaning of the term "natural born citizen" is. It depends not only on where B.O. was born, but also on whether he could legally be made a citizen if he was a citizen of another country (conferred by his father's citizenship). The SCOTUS, however, has dismissed all of these cases against B.O. on the basis of "lack of standing". If they actually ruled that B.O. was a NBC, and set a standard by which future cases could be judged, this would be acceptable. But just leaving it up in the air as it is is not.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I am withdrawing my proposal to amend the constitution to remove Barack Obama from office as this would be a Bill of Attainder. I still agree that he should be removed, but the method I had proposed is unacceptable. Article I section 9 forbids Bills of Attainder which I can now see should even include constitutional amendments. This must be done through the courts.

    ReplyDelete