CONCORD, N.H.—Weeks after a similar case was filed in California, a Nashua man has asked the federal court to rule that Sen. John McCain can't be president because he was born in the Panama Canal Zone.
Fred Hollander filed suit against McCain and the Republican National Committee, arguing he and other Republican voters would be "disenfranchised" if McCain becomes the party's nominee for president.
Hollander's suit, filed Friday in U.S. District Court, asks a judge to order McCain to withdraw, and the GOP to nominate someone else.
A lawyer in Riverside, Calif., filed a similar suit on March 6. That case asks only for a "declaratory judgment" on whether McCain would be eligible to serve as president if elected.
McCain was born at the Coco Solo Naval Air Station, a U.S. military base in the Panama Canal Zone. His parents both were U.S. citizens; his father was a U.S. Naval officer.
Hollander argues McCain is technically a naturalized citizen and "unequivocally ineligible" to serve as president.
The Constitution requires that only "natural born" citizens hold the presidency, a term on which the Founding Fathers did not elaborate.
A McCain campaign spokeswoman says the issue was raised in 2000, when McCain last ran for president, and it was deemed ridiculous.
New Hampshire Republican Party Chairman Fergus Cullen declined to comment on the merits of Hollander's arguments, but said, "We appreciate Mr. Hollander reminding voters that Senator McCain's family has been in service to this nation since literally the day John McCain was born."
The "natural born" question has surfaced before, but has never been decided definitively by U.S. courts. Barry Goldwater, the 1964 Republican nominee for President, was born in Arizona three years before it became a state, but lost the general election to John F. Kennedy.
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Information from: The Telegraph, http://www.nashuatelegraph.com
