How the Public Can Gain Access to Obama's Original Birth Records

I have said this before and I will say it again. There is a Constitutional requirement that a would-be President must be a "natural born Citizen." Someone running for President knows that this requirement exists and knows that he/she must satisfy this Constitutional requirement. This is a CONSTITUTIONAL REQUIREMENT. An individual running for President therefore knows two things: he/she wants to hold a public position and he/she must prove that he/she is a "natural born Citizen." I cannot imagine under any circumstance how that same individual has a reasonable expectation of privacy in his/her birth certificate and/or adoption records (if they exist) if those same documents must be relied upon to adequately prove that he/she meets the Constitutional requirements for the Office of President. No state law or even Federal law on privacy can trump the American public's need to know whether a Presidential candidate is a "natural born Citizen," a need that has its origins in the Constitution itself. Given this Constitutional requirement, a court could order that the private documents be released under seal and in camera (to the judge's chambers) for inspection by the court and the attorneys only, with an order that neither the court nor attorneys can reveal what the documents say without further order of the court. Once the documents are inspected and the relevant information is learned, the court could issue an appropriate order and the case would then proceed to its conclusion.

Mario Apuzzo, Esq.

December 29, 2008