Corporate "Speech" is Inferior to Human "Speech"

More of my reaction to Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission,

I've no problem with corporations being granted rights. Rule sets are necessary for the proper operation of these constructs. However, I have a distinct and visceral negative reaction to the idea that a corporation should have equality of stature to humans under the Constitution in frankly any dimension. I think the Court overreaches when it elevates these entities to the same level of humans under the Constitution. Its a slippery slope to say that corporations are "persons" with rights equal to human beings under the Constitution, and I want to know where does it end. If their "speech" is equal to mine, the vote is political "speech". If they are persons, why not just give them the franchise? All of the rights of individual, flesh and blood human beings under our constitution flow from the fact that we are endowed by the Creator with certain inalienable rights. This cannot be said of corporations. How do we get to conferring these rights onto an artificial, legal construct made by humans? Consider the ways in which corporations are entirely different from humans:

1. A corporation does not understand what is right or wrong.
2. The vast majority of corporations are for purposes of commerce and have only one motive: to make it's stockholders/owners money.
3. A corporation can not be imprisoned and understands no sense of punishment.
4. A corporation has no lifespan.

I have a problem with a ruling that elevates the "speech' of such an entity under the constitution to a level equal to that of a human being. The ruling itself references the fact that corporations are derivative constructs, created products of human activity, and cites this fact as a rationale for why their speech should not be restricted, but this is precisely the reason why their "speech" should not be accorded the same merit as that of an individual under the constitution. The rights of humans under the Constitution flow from the fact that we have certain inalienable rights granted by our Creator to us as living souls. Corporations do not qualify on this metric and their "speech' should not be accorded an equal status to individuals under the constitution.

SCOTUS Kills "Natural Born Citizen" Arguments Against Obama

SCOTUS released its orders from Friday's conference this morning and effectively killed the viability of all future claims against Obama's eligibility to stand for the Presidency based on his dual citizenship at birth. Their decision on the last case to reach them on this topic was released this morning:

08A469 WROTNOWSKI, CORT V. BYSIEWICZ, CT SEC. OF STATE
The application for stay and/or injunction addressed to Justice Scalia and
referred to the Court is denied.

Today's release of SCOTUS's denial (without comment) of this case occurs cotemporaneously with the meeting of the Electoral College electors today across the country to certify the electoral votes of the states. These two events, both occuring largely out of the public and media's eye and attention, essentially ensure Obama's ascendency to the Oval Office as the 44th President of the United States.

The Court has removed the last potentially viable constitutional challenge, and the Electoral College with its votes today will firmly cement Obama as the President Elect and invest him with the commensurate responsibility and authority granted that title by the Constitution of the United States.

Conservative Supreme Court Justices Stalking Obama

A galactic clusterfark of an election crisis may yet be in America's future courtesy of SCOTUS, one far more divisive and explosive than the 2000 election. As we posted on last week, the Donofrio v. Wells case went to a conference of the full nine justices on Friday, December 5th to determine whether or not a request for an emergency stay of the national elections would be granted. The Court denied that request on Monday, December 8th and we thought that was the end of it. WRONG. Today, Justice Scalia referred to conference the case of WROTNOWSKI v. BYSIEWICZ. The case will be reviewed in conference this Friday, December 12th. The Electoral College meets Monday, December 15th for the electors to cast their vote and officially make Obama the President Elect. This brief was also prepared by Leo Donofrio and per his blog, Natural Born Citizen, is believed to be procedurally cleaner than his brief rejected on Monday. Both ask for emergency stays of the national election.

If you're not the suspicious type, then there's nothing to see here. As one of Donofrio's commenter's pointed out;

"It’s well known Supreme Court procedure that when a previously-denied application is resubmitted to another Justice — as this one was — that Justice refers the application to the whole court. That’s because almost every single resubmitted application is brought by a crackpot, and is without merit.

So rather than allow the applicant to keep re-submitting to every single Justice until at least six justices have separately denied it, the second Justice refers it to the entire Court, which usually spends about one second “considering” it, and then denies it as a whole, thus putting the application out of its misery once and for all."

On the other hand, if the timing of this referral by Scalia strikes you as odd and suspicious, then you might conclude that this special order crisis appears to be actively and aggressively pushed forward by conservative Justices Thomas and Scalia. That is the other conclusion to be drawn from the proceedings and orders history of the two cases.

No. 08A469
Title:	Cort Wrotnowski, Applicant v. Susan Bysiewicz, Connecticut Secretary of State
Docketed:
Lower Ct:	Supreme Court of Connecticut

Case Nos.:

(SC 18264)

~~~Date~~~	~~~~~~~Proceedings and Orders~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Nov 25 2008	Application (08A469) for stay and/or injunction, submitted to Justice Ginsburg.
Nov 26 2008	Application (08A469) denied by Justice Ginsburg.
Nov 29 2008	Application (08A469) refiled and submitted to Justice Scalia.
Dec 8 2008	DISTRIBUTED for Conference of December 12, 2008.
Dec 8 2008	Application (08A469) referred to the Court by Justice Scalia.
Dec 9 2008	Supplemental brief of applicant Cort Wrotnowski filed. (Distributed)

and the earlier Donofrio case:

No. 08A407
Title:	Leo C. Donofrio, Applicant v. Nina Mitchell Wells, New Jersey Secretary of State
Docketed:
Lower Ct:	Supreme Court of New Jersey

Case Nos.:

(AM-0153-08T2 at the New Jersey Appellate Division without a docket number)

~~~Date~~~	~~~~~~~Proceedings and Orders~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Nov 3 2008	Application (08A407) for stay pending the filing and disposition of a petition for a writ of certiorari, submitted to Justice Souter.
Nov 6 2008	Application (08A407) denied by Justice Souter.
Nov 14 2008	Application (08A407) refiled and submitted to Justice Thomas.
Nov 19 2008	DISTRIBUTED for Conference of December 5, 2008.
Nov 19 2008	Application (08A407) referred to the Court by Justice Thomas.
Nov 26 2008	Supplemental brief of applicant Leo C. Donofrio filed. (Distributed)
Dec 1 2008	Letter from applicant dated November 22, 2008, received.
Dec 8 2008	Application (08A407) denied by the Court.

The fundamental legal argument in both cases is the same, to wit: Obama is not eligible to stand for the Presidency because his dual citizenship status at birth renders him not a "natural born citizen' per Article 2, Section 1 of the Constitution.

The difference between the two briefs is simply that the second had more preparation time and is considered procedurally cleaner and better argued by its author.

Timing wise, Scalia sends this to the full court for review on the Friday before the Electoral College is due to meet. Only four Justices are required to grant a hearing and there are four conservative votes on the court in Alito, Stevens, Thomas and Scalia. It is entirely possible that Friday afternoon, the Supreme Court could issue an emergency stay of the Electoral College pending oral arguments on this case. Donofrio will accompany Cort Wrotnowski to Washington D.C. tomorrow where both will be available for comment at 11:00 AM on the steps of the Supreme Court.

We may not have missed the political apocalypse after all.

Its Official: SCOTUS Shuts Down Last Potentially Viable Argument Against Obama's Eligibility to Stand for the Presidency

At 10:00 am this morning the Supreme Court of the United States issued the remainder of its orders from Friday's private conference. See the actual list of orders is here. With regard to the Donofrio request for an emergency stay, the Court had the following:

08A407 DONOFRIO, LEO C. V. WELLS, NJ SEC. OF STATE

The application for stay addressed to Justice Thomas and referred to the Court
is denied.

As the case was rejected by Justice David Souter earlier in November, and now has been denied after referral by Justice Thomas and a private conference of all nine Justices, this specific argument against Obama's eligibility to stand for the Presidency on the grounds that he is not a "natural born citizen", within the meaning of the Article 2, Section 1 of the Constitution , is now effectively DOA.

Obama: The Usurper

Add this to the list of appellatives, already impressive, that Obama is accreting to himself. The anti-Obama under narrative is now set and grows each day as the Donofrio v. Wells proponents across the nation wait for the Supreme Court to indicate whether or not they will take up the case and clarify the question of what is a "natural born citizen" for purposes of Article 1, Section 2 of the Constitution. The court met in conference on Friday to consider whether or not to take up the case and issued no orders in the afternoon for this case. Court spokesman indicate that a decision will be announced on Monday. General custom at the court is that cases that will not be heard following conference are held over until Monday and then orders indicating denial of the petitions are issued. This is not always true however, and commenters to Donofrio's blog are literally praying that the Supremes will take up the question.

I've already issued my prediction, which I'll repeat and clarify further now. If the court does not take up this case and leaves intact the unsettled nature of the law regarding eligibility for the Presidency, it will be a clear decision that it is not in the nation's interest to remove this ambiguity from the law under this set of circumstances. If the court does take up the case, then brace yourselves, because if they decide to hear it, its because they intend to render Obama ineligible.

If they do so, all bets are off. Should it happen prior to the meeting of the Electoral College, possible outcomes include the Democratic Party subbing in Hillary, while the Republicans might bring Palin back up from the minors for the top spot. Political chaos would become the order of the day and under such circumstances, if you think the domestic and global economic situation is bad now, it would go into complete free fall were the US to be thrown into such uncertainty relative to the Presidency. I don't even want to think of the national security implications of such a crisis with a mere few weeks until the current president's term comes to an end.

The followers of Donofrio think they want this, but they really don't. The Supremes are not idiots and they can reasonably comprehend some of the hideous outcomes that might follow were they to interpret the constitution as Donofrio suggests. Donofrio's followers are praying that SCOTUS will take up this case. I'm praying just as earnestly that they don't.

Update: At 10 a.m. today, the Court will release the remaining orders from the Justices’ private conference last Friday. (Click here for the orders released Friday afternoon.)

SCOTUS Blinks

Today’s orders list from the Supreme Court is available here. It appears the Court granted certiorari in two cases, neither of them the Donofrio v. Wells case. All other orders are expected to be released on Monday and if custom holds, we can expect those orders to include a denial of hearing for this case.

The media blackout on this is stunning to me. Nothing on POTUS 08 on XM, Fox and CNN full of discussion about the The Three Big Beggars on capital hill and the sentencing of OJ. But the Supreme Court reviewing a case that could potentially cost Obama the presidency? Not so much.

By declining the case in conference, the Court has perhaps definitively closed down this route of attack on Obama's presidency. The case would now have been submitted to the court twice, rejected first by Justice Souter, then reviewed by the entire court in conference on the referral of Justice Thomas and rejected again. While the request for an emergency stay could be submitted again to another Justice, having been now rejected by the full court, it seems unlikely in the extreme that further attempts would be fruitful.

What I would give to have heard the deliberations of the court and their rationale for declining to take up this case. Judges are supposed to be wise, so perhaps today we have witnessed the wisdom of the Supreme Court in refusing to place itself at the center of a profound constitutional crisis that would have caused turmoil and conflict across this country and indeed across the globe itself. SCOTUS blinked.

Prepare Yourself for Political Apocalypse: Obama is Ineligible to be President

It is quite possible that the United States of America is about to outdo itself in the realm of explosive politics and racial issues. The gentleman pictured at left, Leo Donofrio, a former attorney turned poker player, has become the catalyst for what could be a full blown constitutional crisis that will divide this country for decades to come. The Supreme Court has taken up for consideration in conference Donofrio v. Wells, a suit brought in state court against the Secretary of the State of New Jersey, challenging Barack Obama's eligibility to be President of the United States on the basis that he is not a "natural born" citizen of the United States. It is worth noting that the same lawsuit also alleges that McCain is not a "natural born" citizen, for a somewhat different reason, and therefore also ineligible to stand for election to the Presidency.

For the sake of clarity:

• The lawsuit does NOT allege that Obama is not a United States Citizen.
  
• The lawsuit does NOT allege that Obama was not born in the U.S. in Hawaii in 1961.

On both of these scores, the plaintiff agrees that Obama is a US citizen and agrees that Obama was born on US soil in Hawaii. Rather, the lawsuit alleges that Obama does not fit the meaning of the term "natural born" citizen as that term is used by the U.S. Constitution in Article 2, Section I which states,

"No person except a natural born citizen of the United States, at the time of adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President."

As far as the issues surrounding Obama’s birth certificate are concerned, Denofrio states Obama has not been presented with a legal request from a party with proper standing to command him in any way, and therefore has no legal responsibility to produce one.

However, Denofrio says he believes if “Obama is presented with a legal request from a government authority sanctioned to make such request, that Senator Obama will respond accordingly and put the issue behind him forever.

“That being said, petitioner regretfully submits that since candidate Obama was born to a Kenyan father, he also is not eligible to the office of president since he is not a ‘natural born citizen’ by the Constitution.”

Broken down to plain everyday language, the lawsuit argues that the term "natural born" citizen essentially means not merely someone who is a citizen, or even someone who was born in the United States, but a citizen born to two citizen parents in the United States.

If SCOTUS concludes that the above is the operative definition, then Obama is not eligible to be President because he was born of parents who were not both citizens of the United States. According to Factcheck. Org:

When Barack Obama Jr. was born on Aug. 4,1961, in Honolulu, Kenya was a British colony, still part of the United Kingdom's dwindling empire. As a Kenyan native, Barack Obama Sr. was a British subject whose citizenship status was governed by The British Nationality Act of 1948. That same act governed the status of Obama Sr.'s children:

British Nationality Act of 1948 (Part II, Section 5): Subject to the provisions of this section, a person born after the commencement of this Act shall be a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies by descent if his father is a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies at the time of the birth.

In other words, at the time of his birth, Barack Obama Jr. was both a U.S. citizen (by virtue of being born in Hawaii) and a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies (or the UKC) by virtue of being born to a father who was a citizen of the UKC.

The Donofrio lawsuit alleges therefore that Obama's dual citizenship status at birth means he does not fit the meaning of the term "natural born" citizen and is therefore disqualified from eligibility for election to the office of the President.

Positively diabolical isn't it? Under this interpretation, Obama could have been born on the mall in Washington D.C. in front of Jesus and ten million witnesses and he would not be eligible to be President, by virtue of his dual citizenship at birth. The typical everyman/everywoman on the street has always figured that if you are born on US soil, you are a natural born citizen and can be President. Turns out, not so much. The average person on the street that voted for Obama, and I'll bet some that didn't are gonna say, thats a technicality. You're going to blow up the entire election on a technicality.

As if that was not explosive enough, Clarence Thomas may very well have played what will become an absolutely infamous role in this drama. Cobb, given that the issue at stake is the presidency itself, actually manages to understate this today:

Apparently Clarence Thomas is about to draw the ire of millions, and some massive fudge is going to happen or else all hell will break loose in America. He apparently has made the move that will force the Supreme Court to consider one of the several lawsuits over the birth of Barack Obama.

What has he done? Donofrio’s first application was denied by Justice David Souter on Nov. 6. The rules of the court, however, allow for a renewed submission to a justice of the petitioner’s choice. Who answered the call? Justice Thomas referred the case to the full Court on November 19, and then the full Court distributed it for conference tomorrow, December 5, 2008, after an initial consideration on the Thomas referral. The full Supreme Court will meet in conference on the suit to determine whether or not they will take up the case or decline to hear it.

Our prediction: if SCOTUS decides to take up this case, they will ultimately agree with the plaintiff's interpretation and construe the Constitution to state that Obama is not a "natural born citizen" within the meaning of Article 2, Section 1, rendering him ineligible for election to the office of the President. At that point, several species of Hell are going to break loose.

I am almost incapable of imagining the scope of the civil and political fallout from such an action by SCOTUS to render null and void the will of 52 million voters who cast their vote for Barack Obama. This case is nuclear and has just gone to DEFCON 2.

What happens if SCOTUS decides against Obama, as best I can tell at the moment, will be determined in part by the timing of any such decision. Bear in mind that despite the manner in which Obama is addressed, technically he is NOT YET the President Elect. He does not officially become the President Elect until December 15th, when the Electoral College meets to certify the electors of each state.

There are two potential scenarios to consider:

1. Barack Obama is ruled to be ineligible for President before the Electoral College votes on December 15
2. Barack Obama is ruled to be ineligible for President after December 15 but before the inauguration

Candidates for POTUS are chosen by the two major political parties, Democrats and Republicans, which are private organizations.

The Right Side of Life saved me some research:

Democrat

Per the Call for the 2008 Democratic National Convention (As Adopted by the Democratic National Committe, February 2, 2007), VIII. PROCEDURAL RULES OF THE 2008 DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION, Paragraph G:

Filling a Vacancy on the National Ticket: In the event of death, resignation or disability of a nominee of the Party for President or Vice President after the adjournment of the National Convention, the National Chairperson of the Democratic National Committee shall confer with the Democratic leadership of the United States Congress and the Democratic Governors Association and shall report to the Democratic National Committee, which is authorized to fill the vacancy or vacancies.

Republican

Per The National Republican Committee Rules, RULE NO. 9, Filling Vacancies in Nominations:

(a) The Republican National Committee is hereby authorized and empowered to fill any and all vacancies which may occur by reason of death, declination, or otherwise of the Republican candidate for President of the United States or the Republican candidate for Vice President of the United States, as nominated by the national convention, or the Republican National Committee may reconvene the national convention for the purpose of filling any such vacancies.

(b) In voting under this rule, the Republican National Committee members representing any state shall be entitled to cast the same number of votes as said state was entitled to cast at the national convention.

(c) In the event that the members of the Republican National Committee from any state shall not be in agreement in the casting of votes hereunder, the votes of such state shall be divided equally, including fractional votes, among the members of the Republican National Committee present or voting by proxy.

(d) No candidate shall be chosen to fill any such vacancy except upon receiving a majority of the votes entitled to be cast in the election.

If Barack Obama is ruled to be ineligible for President before the Electoral College votes on December 15?

The above party rules would apply and the Electoral College would vote based on what their respective party decides as well as the Electoral College Process. Essentially the party would decide who the candidate would be. Presumably, they would elevate Joe Biden and he would select a running mate, though it would be such an unprecedented moment in history that anything might happen.

If Barack Obama is ruled to be ineligible for President after December 15 but before the inauguration?

It seems to me that the Twentieth Amendment to the United States Constitution would then control the situation. The Twentieth Amendment provides,

“if the President elect shall have failed to qualify, then the Vice President elect shall act as President until a President shall have qualified; and the Congress may by law provide for the case wherein neither a President elect nor a Vice President elect shall have qualified, declaring who shall then act as President, or in the manner in which one who is to act shall be elected, and such person shall act accordingly until a President or Vice President shall have qualified.”

In this scenario, Joe Biden becomes the President, as he is not handicapped by this issue of his status as a "natural born" citizen at birth.

Circling back to the several species of Hell that will ensue, it would not be out of the question that there might be civil unrest. Clarence Thomas will become the most reviled black man alive. People will spit on his likeness. If they were going to take Obama down, we'll say, Thomas didn't have to be the one to hand overThe One. He will be the 2nd coming of Judas, the successor to Brutus for the rest of his life. Leo Donifrio will find himself branded among the most hateful of men, for all that he sounds like a reasonable enough guy. I imagine that there will be a massive collective gasp of horror and shock planetwide when this historical electoral result is rendered meaningless. The planet is going to recoil from America if SCOTUS renders Obama ineligible. Financial markets around the world will plummet as the US plunges into unprecedented political turmoil and uncertainty. Black Americans will fall into a pit of unrelenting and bitter despair, with our niggling suspicion confirmed that America would find some way to prevent a black man from ascending to the Presidency. We'll also believe that despite the fact the Donifrio's suit seeks to invalidate McCain as well, if McCain had won the election, this suit would not even have been given consideration. The Court's standing and legitimacy will be severely diminished in the eyes of a vast amount of the electorate. Millions of youth and latinos and people everywhere who got involved for the first time, inspired by a campaign for the first time, will become cynical and distrustful and will check out of the political process in disgust.

Prepare yourself for political Apocalypse. Today we are at DEFCON 2. If and when SCOTUS should decide to take up this case, we will go to DEFCON 1. Should SCOTUS conclude that Obama is rendered ineligible as a candidate to stand for election to the Presidency, this country will rip itself apart.

Update: I spoke this morning with Tony Mauro, Supreme Court correspondent for Legal Times, a legal news website that covers SCOTUS. Tony very graciously gave me a few minutes of his time and indicated that he was aware of the Donofrio v. Wells case being scheduled for conference and told me a bit about the procedure. Generally, the conference is held in the morning and if the court decides to take up a case, they will announce that in the afternoon. If they decline to hear a case, the announcement of that is typically not made until the following Monday. Assuming this custom holds, if there is no announcement that the case is being taken up this afternoon, it is therefore likely that the Court decided to decline the case and that decision will be made public on Monday.