The Post & Email's Exclusive Interview with Eligibility Attorney Mario Apuzzo

Reposted with the permission of The Post & Email

“THE FOUNDERS GAVE US A DEFINITION THAT WE COULD ALL AGREE ON”

by Sharon Rondeau

MRS. RONDEAU: I heard you on Dr. Kate’s radio program the other night, and it caught my attention when you said that you believe that your case will end up at the Supreme Court despite the fact that the Third Circuit is scheduled to hear your appeal.  Could you expound on that?

ATTY. APUZZO: Yes.  If the Third Circuit affirms the District Court’s decision to dismiss the case for lack of standing and political question, then the Kerchner plaintiffs will file a Writ of Certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court.  It does not mean that the court will necessarily hear the case because you’re essentially requesting that the Supreme Court review the lower court’s decision. So you don’t have a right to go to the Supreme Court; you have a right to ask that the Supreme Court take the case.  So when we talk about going to the Supreme Court, we mean that we are asking the Supreme Court to take the case.  If four justices vote to accept the petition for Certiorari, then it’s actually on appeal in the U.S. Supreme Court, and then we would need a majority of the court to actually grant the petition.  If they grant the petition, you don’t necessarily win the case, because at that point the only issue that’s on appeal is whether or not the District Court is correct in dismissing the case for lack of standing and for political question.  That means that the lower court never addressed the merits of the case, the merits being “Is Mr. Obama a ‘natural born Citizen’ under the Constitution; does he meet that definition?” We contend that he does not meet the doubt-free definition of a “natural born Citizen” because when he was born his father was a British subject and Obama himself was also born a British subject (which converted to Kenyan citizenship when he was 2), all giving him conflicting natural allegiance to Great Britain from the time of birth and to Kenya from age 2.

Read the entire interview here.