The Post & Email by Sharon Rondeau 6/27/2018
Kennedy’s retirement, announced earlier on Wednesday, immediately spurred discussion as to who Trump might nominate to his seat. Constitutionally, all potential cabinet members and federal court nominees must be confirmed by a majority of the U.S. Senate.
One of the names on the list of potential picks is Sen. Mike Lee (R) of Utah, while another is Thomas Hardiman, who was reportedly on Trump’s “short list†of contenders when Gorsuch was chosen.
Hardiman currently sits on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals and was one of a three-judge panel which rejected as “frivolous†an appeal in a case dealing with the issue of presidential eligibility stemming from the election of Barack Hussein Obama in 2008.
The appeal, submitted by plaintiffs’ attorney Mario Apuzzo of New Jersey, consisted of a 95-page brief challenging a lower court’s finding that the question of presidential eligibility is a “political†one. The U.S. District Court had also found that the plaintiffs in the case, Kerchner, et al v Obama & Congress, et al, did not have legal “standing†to demand that Obama prove his eligibility to hold office.
Article II, Section 1, clause 5 of the U.S. Constitution imposes three requirements for the president: that he have resided in the country for 14 years; that he be 35 years of age or older; and that he be a “natural born Citizen.â€
In an interview in February 2017, Apuzzo told The Post & Email that the three-judge appellate panel’s opinion was shocking in that “neither the lower court nor opposing counsel had argued that the plaintiffs’ position on what gave them standing was frivolous.†The panel further ordered that Apuzzo submit a brief responsive to the court’s Order to Show Cause as to why he should not incur financial sanctions for having filed the alleged “frivolous appeal.â€
More:
https://www.thepostemail.com/2018/06/27/judge-who-attempted-to-sanction-obama-eligibility-attorney-on-list-of-supreme-court-nominees/
