Superpresident
In an earlier comment, I retracted a comment I had made that had anyone but Palin been McCain’s running mate, I would not have voted for him. Upon being questioned, I realized that, yes, indeed, had John McCain selected Superman as his running mate, I would have voted for him. However, I pointed out that Superman was not qualified to stand for the Presidency, being an alien dropped onto our soil by spaceship, and not having been born a citizen.
Bibliophile112 writes: I’m fairly certain that is because Kal-El has superpowers and thus is probably not human, let alone American.
Time for a Civics Lesson! The exact wording of the Constitution is: “No person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty-five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.”
The Constitution does not say “human being” it says “Person” and by the Dread Scott decision, we know that this means only those persons considered to have legal rights at the time of the drafting. On the other hand, the Civil War sort of unofficially overruled Dread Scott, not to mention that the 14th Amendment says “all persons born” in the United States have the privileges of citizenship, and, again, this might include nonhuman persons provided they are legally persons. The question would be a novel one for the Supreme Court.
Hence of the Justice League, Superman, Martian Manhunter, Hawkman of Thanagar are disqualified because nonhumans born on alien planets is not a natural born citizen (albeit the original Hawkman, a reincarnated Egyptian prince, is qualified). Likewise Aquaman (although my geekish powers fail here, because I don’t know if he is just the king of Atlantis, or if he has duel citizenship if his father is a lighthouse keeper) and likewise Wonder Woman (even if not a clay golem, she is a native of Paradise Island or Themiscyra). However Green Lantern (either Hal Jordan or Guy Gardener or John Stewart) or Flash (Jay Gerrick or Barry Allen or Wally West) is qualified — but I am not sure how old some characters who have been teenagers since 1968 are, so they may not meet the age requirement of 35.
Zatanna is not a human being, being a member of the race Homo Arcanus, so her legal status is ambiguous, depending on whether the Court interprets “persons” to include non-homo-sapiens (particularly if they are interfertile with human beings) as “persons” in the eyes of the law.
Captain Marvel is too young, since he is actually Billy Batson. Red Tornado is a robot. Thor is not only not human, he is not even a natural as opposed to supernatural being, and he is also Marvel, not DC, and therefore is not a member of the Justice League.
But nothing in the Constitution says that a person cannot have superpowers and be president.
Although, come to think of it, it might be quite silly.
Really, really silly. Very silly.
About John C Wright
John C. Wright is a practicing philosopher, a retired attorney, newspaperman, and newspaper editor, and a published author of science fiction. Once a Houyhnhnm, he was expelled from the august ranks of purely rational beings when he fell in love; but retains an honorary title.
