What does law say about Obama's eligibility?

PHOENIX, Ariz. – A challenge to Barack Obama's occupancy of the Oval Office was thrown out because "the voters ruled" on his eligibility in the 2008 election. Another was tossed when Obama didn't even bother to show up to refute the evidence. And cases have been rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court because the justices are "avoiding" the issue.

But this week, for the first time, the results of a formal law enforcement investigation into Obama's eligibility will be released.

WND TV will live-stream the news conference scheduled by Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Ariz., Thursday at 1 p.m. Mountain Time in Phoenix, or 3 p.m. Eastern. Arpaio previously has indicated there might be a "shock" in the report.

The stream will be on this linked page. In addition, WND will make available to the public, the same day by email, the official report distributed to media by Arpaio's "Cold Case Posse." Those interested in receiving the report can sign up for the free service between now and the March 1 news conference.

Without revealing any of the results of the investigative work done by his team over the past few months, Arpaio said "there could be a shock there somewhere that my guys came up with."

Arpaio constituted a special five-member law enforcement posse last year to investigate allegations brought by members of the Surprise, Ariz., Tea Party that the Obama birth certificate released to the public by the White House on April 27 might be a forgery.

The posse, assembled under the authority of Arpaio's office, is made up of three former law enforcement officers and two retired attorneys with law enforcement experience. Members have been examining evidence since September concerning Obama's eligibility to be president under Article 2, Section 1 of the Constitution, which requires a president to be a natural-born citizen.

Among other issues, there also have been allegations of Obama's use of a Social Security number that corresponds to a Connecticut address, even though the president apparently had no links there.

WND earlier reported a private investigation found that the Social Security number being used by Obama does not pass a check with E-Verify, the electronic system the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has created to verify whether or not someone is authorized to work legally in the country.

Arpaio's investigation is the first official law enforcement look at the allegations surrounding Obama's eligibility. Many of the private investigators who have examined it contend there are too many questionable circumstances to believe that everything regarding Obama is above-board.

Arpaio previously told WND that when he launched his Cold Case Posse it was with the possibility that he would clear Obama.

But he said it wasn't an issue he could ignore, after 250 members of the tea party organization "came to me and asked their sheriff to investigate Obama and the birth certificate."

SIGN UP NOW TO GET FREE COPY OF ARPAIO REPORT AS SOON AS IT IS DISTRIBUTED TO PRESS MARCH 1.

The WND TV live-streaming coverage of the news conference Thursday is possible through the support of the Western Center for Journalism.

The decisions in dozens of court cases over the last few years questioning Obama's eligibility were typified by a recent decision in Georgia in which several individuals filed challenges to Obama's name on the 2012 ballot and provided evidence to a hearing officer.

Even though Obama and his lawyer deliberately snubbed the case – the lawyer wrote the judge a letter in advance telling him Obama would not attend – the judge threw out the evidence presented by several attorneys and ruled in favor of Obama.

Similar ballot challenges are being filed in a long list of other states already.

The Arpaio investigators were given the case following a meeting held in the sheriff's office Aug. 17, 2011, with tea party representatives from Surprise, Ariz., who presented a petition signed by more than 250 Maricopa County residents. The petitioners expressed concern that their voting rights could be irreparably compromised if Obama uses a forged birth certificate to be placed on the 2012 presidential ballot in Arizona or otherwise is found to be ineligible.

The tea party letter formally stated the following charge: "The Surprise Tea Party is concerned that no law enforcement agency or other duly constituted government agency has conducted an investigation into the Obama birth certificate to determine if it is in fact an authentic copy of 1961 birth records on file for Barack Obama at the Hawaii Department of Health in Honolulu, or whether it, or they are forgeries."

The posse was constituted as a 501(c)3 organization, designed to cost the people of Maricopa County nothing, while enabling people from around the country to contribute to its mission.

Those wishing to send a tax-deductible contribution directly to the Cold Case Posse may do so by mailing a check or money order to: MCSO Cold Case Posse, P.O. Box 74374, Phoenix, AZ 85087.

WND has reported that dozens of experts with varying ranges of competency who have looked at the situation believe the birth documentation image released by Obama last year is not genuine.

A flying-banner and billboard campaign to let people know about the questions regarding eligibility that was started by WND CEO and Editor Joseph Farah has raised the public's awareness of the situation.

Farah wrote recently that the underlying question to be determined is whether the U.S. Constitution remains the law of the land, or whether it has become "an archaic old document that needs to be amended."

"At its core, it's really quite simple: Does Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution dealing with who can serve as president of the United States simply mean that any citizen age 35 or older is eligible? If so, why did the founders use a different term altogether – 'natural born citizen'? What is a 'natural born citizen'? Is it anyone born in the United States? If so, why have candidates born outside the United States been deemed eligible? Do we owe it to America's future to go back in history to determine what that term actually means?"

"Until now, as hard as it may be to believe, no official vetting of Obama's credentials has been done – not by the 50 secretaries of state who oversee elections, not by the Federal Elections Commission that administers the nation's elections laws, not by the Electoral College, not by any judge in America, not by Congress, not by anyone," he continued.

Even before the results become public, Farah said he's confident there will be a significant impact.

"I strongly believe it could be a game-changer," he said.