Thank you for contacting me regarding President-Elect
Obama’s citizenship. I appreciate hearing from you and
would like to respond to your concerns.
Like you, I believe that our federal government has the
responsibility to make certain that the Constitution of
the United States is not compromised. We must fight to
uphold our Constitution through our courts and political
processes.
Article II of the Constitution provides that “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.” The
Constitution, however, does not specify how that
qualification for office is to be enforced. As you may
know, a voter recently raised this issue before a federal
court in Pennsylvania. On October 24, 2008, the United
States District Court for the Eastern District of
Pennsylvania released an order in the case of Berg v.
Obama. In that case, the plaintiff, Phillip Berg,
raised the same issue that your letter raises regarding
proof of the President-Elect’s birthplace. Through his
lawsuit, Mr. Berg sought to compel President-Elect Obama
to produce a certified copy of his birth certificate.
The District Court dismissed Mr. Berg’s suit and held
that the question of Obama’s citizenship is not a matter
for a court to decide. The court further noted that
voters, not courts, should decide whether a particular
presidential candidate is qualified to hold office.
Presidential candidates are vetted by voters at least
twice - first in the primary elections and again in the
general election. President-Elect Obama won the Democratic
Party’s nomination after one of the most fiercely
contested presidential primaries in American history. And,
he has now been duly elected by the majority of voters in
the United States. Throughout both the primary and general
election, concerns about Mr. Obama’s birthplace were
raised. The voters have made clear their view that Mr.
Obama meets the qualifications to hold the office of
President.
After he is sworn into office, Mr. Obama will be our
nation’s President and I intend to bestow upon him the
honor and respect due any man who holds that Office. Yet,
I am certain that there will be times when I will disagree
and oppose President Obama’s policies. When that happens,
you can be assured that I will pursue vigorously what I
believe to be in the best interest of Florida and the
nation.
I thank you for sharing your views with me and will
keep your concerns in mind. If you have additional
questions or comments, please contact me. For more
information about issues and activities important to
Florida, please sign up for my weekly newsletter at
http://martinez.senate.gov.
Sincerely,
Mel Martinez
United States Senator
