TALKING POINTS MEMO

2024 Tennessee HB 2800 and SB 2838

WHAT DOES THIS PROPOSED LEGISLATION DO?

It establishes in Tennessee law a basic standard for who shall have and who shall not have lawful ballot
access to seek political office, both State and Federal offices, within the State of Tennessee. It codifies in
law the basic standards for office eligibility as required by the Tennessee State Constitution and the
United States Constitution, so that anyone seeking the offices must prove constitutional eligibility for
the office they seek in order to appear on a ballot within the State of Tennessee. As election fraud is a
crime within the United States and State of Tennessee, it also provides penalties for those who seek
office in violation of the standards constitutionally required and adopted in this bill.

WHY IS THIS LEGISLATION NECESSARY?

In recent years, voters across the United States and Tennessee have lost all faith and trust in elections
due to political manipulations of who is or is not a “citizen” eligible to vote, who is or is not eligible to
seek or hold the offices, the use of illegal aliens planted in areas with the distinct purpose of
redistricting, unlawful election processes and procedures, foreign interference in our elections and an
ongoing flood of foreign individuals entering and remaining in our country and State illegally. The efforts
of foreign entities seeking political office in the USA in order to forever transform Tennessee and the
country into unconstitutional territory are off the charts. While some states are allowing illegal aliens
(non-citizens) to vote and seek political offices, even hold power in law enforcement and judicial
positions, Tennessee must protect the people of Tennessee from foreign occupation of both State and
Federal offices by making certain that all who are granted ballot access in the State of Tennessee, have
proven their eligibility for the office being sought before being placed on any ballot within the State.

WHAT IS BALLOT ELIGIBILITY BASED UPON IN THIS BILL?

All eligibility requirements in this legislation are based upon those codified in the United States
Constitution, Federal Election laws, the Tennessee Constitution and Tennessee code. This bill establishes
by law that the State of Tennessee will enforce all constitutional and lawful requirements for political
office at the point of ballot access. All requirements in this legislation are constitutional, lawful, and in
the best interest of every Tennessean for the preservation and protection of our State and Country.

DON’T THESE REQUIREMENTS FOR OFFICE ALREADY EXIST IN LAW?

Yes, they do, but like many laws on the books today, they are not being adhered to or enforced. When
public challenges are brought to officials over office eligibility, the good People get a runaround,
essentially told that while those requirements exist, no one is responsible for enforcing the active
requirements for office.

IS THIS A STATE ISSUE?

As each State is assigned the duty and power to determine the time, place, and processes for elections
within the State, the duty falls to each State to regulate who can lawfully vote and who can’t, as well as
who can and cannot lawfully seek an office prior to being granted ballot access within the State. The
people assume that if someone’s name appears on a ballot, they must be eligible for the office they
seek. The people assume someone is checking eligibility prior to ballot access, even though no one is at
present. This legislation provides a lawful remedy to this serious problem.

CAN A STATE CREATE LAWS TO ENFORCE THESE THINGS?

Not only does every State have the authority to do so, but they also have a duty and obligation to make
certain that their elections are lawful and constitutional, in compliance with all requirements for office
at the local, state, and federal levels. Each State is responsible for the quality of elections within the
State.

IS THE SECTION ON ARTICLE II NATURAL BORN CITIZEN, CORRECT?

In order to know the true meaning of the “natural-born Citizen” term established as a requirement for
the Oval Office, we need only know the historical source, purpose, and meaning of the term at the time
the framers made it a condition for high office in Article II of the United State Constitution.

Throughout world history, the term “natural-born Citizen” is synonymous with the terms “True Citizen”
and “Birthright Citizen.” Recent 14th Amendment (A Naturalization Amendment) interpretations have
greatly muddied the water on the subject due to granting “a right to citizenship” via birth on American
soil alone, despite foreign parentage, and falsely referring to this “naturalization” process as “birthright
citizenship.” This legislation seeks to establish the true meaning of the term in order to prevent foreign
occupation of political offices in the USA.

• The Framers Source of the Term is a universal world-recognized international treatise The Law
of Nations, listed as an enumerated power of Congress in Article I of the US Constitution, based
upon The Laws of Nature, established in the US Declaration of Independence as the foundation
for all that followed in the Constitution and Bill of Rights. The term is based upon The Laws of
Nature and Natural Rights, not US Immigration and Naturalization amendments or codes.

In October of 1775, Benjamin Franklin received three (3) copies of The Law of Nations from
Charles W.F. Dumas. Dumas was a "person of letters" aka a well-read man, a Swiss publisher. He
was also a Swiss diplomat to America at the time, on behalf of the Swiss government.

Franklin placed one of the three copies of The Law of Nations in the New York Library, kept a
copy for himself and gave the third copy to Thomas Jefferson, as Jefferson was writing the
Declaration of Independence.

On December 9, 1775, Franklin wrote a letter of thanks to Dumas, stating as follows: “It came to
us in good season, when the circumstances of a rising State make it necessary to frequently
consult the Law of Nations.”

• The Purpose of Adopting the requirement in Article II was stated by the Framer who proposed
the addition of the requirement during the Constitutional Convention.

On July 25, 1787, Founder John Jay recommended in a letter to members of the Constitutional
Convention that the term “Natural Born Citizen” (synonymous with True Citizen) be placed in
 Article II as a requirement for the Office of President and Commander-in-Chief, stating that only
a Natural Born Citizen of the United States would be eligible for high office. Members of the
Constitutional Convention agreed, adding the condition to the document that would be ratified
less than two months later.

“Permit me to hint, whether it would be wise and seasonable to provide a strong check to the
admission of Foreigners into the administration of our national Government; and to declare
expressly that the Commander in Chief of the American Army shall not be given to nor devolve
on, any but a natural born Citizen.” – John Jay letter dated July 25, 1787

• The True Meaning according to The Law of Nations

“As the society cannot exist and perpetuate itself otherwise than by the children of the citizens,
those children naturally follow the condition of their fathers, and succeed to all their rights.” –
The Law of Nations Section 212

“The country of the fathers is therefore that of the children; and these become true citizens
merely by their tacit consent.” – The Law of Nations Section 212

“I say, that, in order to be of the country, it is necessary that a person be born of a father who is
a citizen; for, if he is born there of a foreigner, it will be only the place of his birth, and not his
country.” – The Law of Nations Section 212

“It is asked whether the children born of citizens in a foreign country are citizens? The laws have
decided this question in several countries, and their regulations must be followed. (59) By the law
of nature alone, children follow the condition of their fathers, and enter into all their rights.” (§
212)

“We have observed above (§ 212), that they have a right to enter into the society of which their
fathers were members.” The Law of Nations Section 220

NOTE: When a group attempted to disqualify Sen. John McCain via the natural-born Citizen
clause in the 2008 GOP Presidential Primaries, they chose to ignore everything quoted above
and focus in on a preamble statement at the opening of the discussion on Citizenship in The Law
of Nations Section 212… all by intent.

“The natives, or natural-born citizens, are those born in the country, of parents who are citizens.”

While this statement is true, because in it the Father is a citizen, it isn’t the true definition of the
term. Along with politically motivated incorrect legal opinions on the matter, this caused
confusion over the term making the term appear to be “ambiguous” and therefore, open to
broad interpretations almost always driven by political agendas.

The answer to this question is in the same section of The Law of Nations, “By the law of nature
alone, children follow the condition of their fathers, and enter into all their rights (§ 212); the
place of birth produces no change in this particular,”
However, no one has worked harder to undermine the natural-born Citizen requirement for
high office, than the legal profession itself, as you can see from Cornell and Harvard.

A Cornell Law opinion

A natural born citizen refers to someone who was a U.S. citizen at birth, and did not need to go
through a naturalization proceeding “later in life”. Under the 14th Amendment's Naturalization
Clause and the Supreme Court case of United States v. Wong Kim Ark, 169 US.

Harvard Law Review

All the sources routinely used to interpret the Constitution confirm that the phrase “natural born
Citizen” has a specific meaning: namely, someone who was a U.S. citizen at birth with no need
to go through a naturalization proceeding “at some later time.”

In both of these cases, often used to buttress a legal argument on the subject, they state that a
natural-born Citizen is someone who is a citizen at birth with no need to go through a
naturalization process… but then, they use the 14th Naturalization Amendment, which is itself a
naturalization process, to claim alleged “birthright citizenship” for children born to parents who
are not citizens of the USA at the child’s time of birth. They are right that natural-born
Citizenship cannot be the result of naturalization, but then claim that it is, under the 14th.

In other words, they correctly claim that a natural-born Citizen is not someone who gains
citizenship via any naturalization process – but then claim that a citizen via the 14th
Naturalization Amendment, is a natural-born Citizen…with a clear purpose to undermine Article
II requirements.

Of course, since US Law Schools have only focused upon British Common Law and not
Constitutional Law or Natural Law and Natural Rights since the 1940s, this simple basic three-
word term has been twisted and mangled, taken away from its meaning at the time of its use in
Article II of the Constitution, in order to open the Oval Office to foreign occupation by making
the natural-born Citizen term appear ambiguous and unenforceable.

This is why each State must settle the issue in their own State Election statutes regarding
legitimate ballot access for the Oval Office.

Natural Born Citizen is a Natural Law Right of every child to be born a legal citizen, member of
society, in the same country to which the natural birth Father is a member. It’s an inalienable
Natural Right under The Laws of Nature alone. No governmental body has the power or
authority to deny a child this most fundamental Natural Right of inheritance.

Last, the natural-born Citizen clause in Article II of the US Constitution is the only clause in the
Supreme Law of the Land that protects the Oval Office from foreign occupation. Without
enforcement of this simple clause, anyone from anywhere on earth can occupy the Oval Office,
with no constitutional right whatsoever. At a time when our country is being flooded with illegal
migrants, it’s hard to imagine a matter more critical to the future of our Constitutional Republic.