Page:Qualifications for President and the “Natural Born” Citizenship Eligibility Requirement.pdf/42

 Some of the cases concerning President Obama, or the candidate then-Senator Obama, had alleged or speculated that the President was not born in the United States, but rather was born in some foreign country or another. It should be noted that there is currently no requirement under federal law, nor was there under state law in 2008, for any federal candidate, that is, candidates to the U.S. Senate, the House of Representatives, or the office of President, to publish, produce, or release an official “birth certificate.” Under the inclusive democratic tradition within the United States, there has never been any federal officer or bureaucracy which acts as a “gatekeeper” controlling who may be a federal candidate. Rather, there is in this country a general legal presumption of eligibility of the adult citizenry to hold political office and, as noted as early as 1875 by former U.S. Court of Appeals Judge, and former Member of Congress (and chairman of the Committee on Elections), George W. McCrary, in his book, A Treatise on the American Law of Elections, discussing federal congressional elections, the legal presumption is always of eligibility, and thus the initial burden of proof is always upon those who challenge a candidate’s eligibility, and not on a candidate to “prove” eligibility: Rh