Editing Equal Opportunity to Govern Amendment

{{Short description|Proposed United States constitutional amendment}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2014}}

[[File:A. Schwarzenegger.jpg|thumb|right|175px|[[Arnold Schwarzenegger]] in 2003 during his governorship]]

The '''Equal Opportunity to Govern Amendment''', also known as the '''Hatch Amendment''' or '''Arnold Amendment''', is a proposed United States [[constitutional amendment]] that would remove the [[Constitution of the United States|Constitution's]] requirement that the [[President of the United States|president]] and [[Vice President of the United States|vice president]] must be [[Natural-born-citizen clause (United States)|natural-born citizens]]. It was proposed in July 2003 by [[United States Senate|senator]] [[Orrin Hatch]], and would allow [[Naturalization|naturalized]] citizens to run for either office when they have been citizens for 20 years. The name Arnold Amendment is a reference to [[Arnold Schwarzenegger]], a naturalized citizen and the [[governor of California]] from 2003 to 2011.

The text of the amendment reads as follows:

{{quotation|
'''Section 1.''' A person who is a citizen of the United States, who has been for 20 years a citizen of the United States, and who is otherwise eligible to the Office of President, is not ineligible to that Office by reason of not being a native-born citizen of the United States.

'''Section 2.''' This article shall not take effect unless it has been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States not later than 7 years from the date of its submission to the States by the Congress.
}}

The amendment was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. Hearings were held on October 5, 2004, two months before the end of the second session of the [[108th United States Congress]], but no further action was taken.

This proposal was widely seen as an attempt to make new California governor [[Arnold Schwarzenegger]] (born in [[Austria]] and naturalized in 1983) eligible for the presidency and is sometimes nicknamed the "Arnold Amendment" or "Amend for Arnold".<ref name="cbsnews">{{cite news|last1=Cosgrove-Mather|first1=Bootie|title=The 'Arnold Amendment'|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-arnold-amendment/|access-date=23 October 2017|work=[[CBS News]]|date=24 October 2003|archive-url=https://archive.today/20171023050026/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-arnold-amendment/|archive-date=October 23, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title = 'Amend for Arnold' campaign launched |url = http://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/Amend-for-Arnold-campaign-launched-Web-site-2635267.php|website = www.sfgate.com| date=November 18, 2004 |access-date = 2016-08-01}}</ref><ref name="foxnews">{{cite news|last1=Associated Press|title=Foreign-Born President Amendment Sought|url=https://www.foxnews.com/story/foreign-born-president-amendment-sought|access-date=23 October 2017|work=[[Fox News]]|date=30 November 2004|archive-url=https://archive.today/20171023050229/http://www.foxnews.com/story/2004/11/30/foreign-born-president-amendment-sought.html|archive-date=October 23, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> Other politicians not born as American citizens who would benefit from such an amendment include former [[Governor of Michigan]] and [[United States Secretary of Energy]] [[Jennifer Granholm]] (born in [[Canada]]), congresswoman [[Ilhan Omar]] (born in [[Somalia]]), former [[United States Secretary of Labor|Secretary of Labor]] and [[United States Secretary of Transportation|Transportation]] [[Elaine Chao]] (born in [[Republic of China|Taiwan]]), and businessman and head of [[Department of Government Efficiency]] [[Elon Musk]] (born in [[South Africa]]).

[[Gallup, Inc.|Gallup]] polls from 2003 and 2004 found that a majority of Americans were opposed to the amendment with 28% supporting it and 70% opposing it in 2003 and 31% supporting it and 67% opposing it in 2004.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://news.gallup.com/poll/14254/americans-pumped-about-arnold-amendment.aspx | title=Americans Not Pumped About "Arnold Amendment" | date=December 7, 2004 }}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Barack Obama citizenship conspiracy theories]]
*{{slink|List of fictional United States presidencies of historical figures (S–U)|Arnold Schwarzenegger}}
*{{slink|Natural-born-citizen clause (United States)|Eligibility challenges}}
*[[United States nationality law]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{wikisource}}

* Jerry Spangler: [https://web.archive.org/web/20041207200230/http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,595096558,00.html Hatch is pushing Arnold bill], ''[[Deseret Morning News]]'' October 7, 2004
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070423174741/http://hatch.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressReleases.Detail&PressRelease_id=1223 Statement of Senator Orrin G. Hatch before the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary Hearing on “Maximizing Voter Choice: Opening the Presidency to Naturalized Americans”]
{{Constitution of the United States}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Equal Opportunity To Govern Amendment}}
[[Category:Arnold Schwarzenegger]]
[[Category:Proposed amendments to the United States Constitution]]
[[Category:United States proposed federal immigration and nationality legislation]]