This matter is of great constitutional significance in regard to the highest office in our land. Should he who was elected to the presidency be determined to be ineligible, the remedy of impeachment is available through the United States Congress, and the plaintiffs in this case, McInnish and Goode, can pursue this remedy through their representatives in Congress. For the above-stated reasons, I dissent from this Courts decision to affirm the judgment of the circuit court dismissing this action on the motion of the Secretary of State. PARKER, Justice (dissenting). I agree with Chief Justice Moores dissent with the exception explained below. I agree with Chief Justice Moores conclusion that the Secretary of State, as the chief elections official of Alabama, has a duty, under both Alabama and federal law, to ensure that the candidates for President of the United States whose names are placed on an Alabama election ballot meet the applicable qualifications. I write separately, however, to clarify that I do not believe that the Secretary of State has an affirmative duty to investigate, on his or her own volition, all the qualifications of every proposed candidate, but that the Secretary of States duty to investigate a potential candidates qualifications arises once the Secretary of State has received notice that a potential candidate may lack the necessary qualifications to be placed on an Alabama election ballot. For the following reasons, I believe that, in the present case, the Secretary of State received notice sufficient to raise a duty to investigate the qualifications of President Barack Hussein Obama before including him as a candidate on Alabamas election ballot. This is not the first time that Hugh McInnish has appeared before this Court concerning this issue. On March 6, 2012, one week before Alabamas primary elections were held on March 13, 2012, McInnish filed in this Court a petition for a writ of mandamus requesting that this Court order the Secretary of State to demand that [President] Obama cause a certified copy of his Bona Fide birth certificate to be delivered to her direct from the government official who is in charge of the records in which it is stored, and to make the receipt of such a prerequisite to his name being placed on the Alabama ballot for the March 13, 2012, primary election, and on the ballot for the November 6, 2012, general election. (Case no. 1110665.) As I noted in my unpublished special concurrence to this Courts order striking McInnishs petition for a writ of mandamus: McInnish attached certain documentation to his mandamus petition, which, if presented to the appropriate forum as part of a proper evidentiary presentation, would raise serious questions about the authenticity of both the short form and the long form birth certificates of President Obama that have been made public. On March 6, 2012, the Secretary of State was served with McInnishs petition for a writ of mandamus, including the attached documentation raising questions about President Obamas qualifications. That documentation served by McInnish on the Secretary of State was sufficient to put the Secretary of State on notice and raise a duty to investigate the qualifications of President Obama before including him as a candidate on an Alabama election ballot. Therefore, I respectfully dissent from the majoritys decision affirming the circuit courts judgment. [...]
Posted on: Sun, 23 Mar 2014 16:39:18 +0000
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