Duo take Obama birth challenge to courts

From NBC’s Pete Williams When the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court meet on Dec. 5th, in their regular private conference to decide which cases to hear, two lawsuits that have captivated a segment of the blogosphere will be up for discussion. Both urge the court to consider claims that President-elect Obama is not qualified to be president, because he is not a natural-born American citizen. Persistent concerns about the qualifications of both major party candidates rank among the oddest aspects of 2008's historic campaign. Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution provides that "No person except a natural born citizen" is eligible to be president. John McCain 's status was questioned because he was born in the Panama Canal Zone and various theories have been advanced to cast doubt on Obama's. Lawsuits over the inclusion of their names on state general-election ballots popped up around the country and were quickly dispensed with by local courts. But two challengers have pursued ... (link)