Schwarzenegger 2020: Equal Opportunity to Govern

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

It would still not work because you could not get three-quarters of the state's to agree to such an action. Such an amendment would be a basic violation of a fundamental principle of the US Constitution that is meant to protect the US from foreign domination. It would not fly in the states of the former Confederacy (plus a number of other states), so it would not succeed because of deep seated fears concerning foreign interference (and other factors). Any attempt by ASBs to force such an issue would likely cause armed insurrection throughout the USA.

It's a fact in the setting that Schwarzenegger is legally allowed to run in the 2020 Presidential Election, so it's our job here to come up with the least-implausible means by which this could occur. If an Amendment successfully passing would result in large-scale armed insurrection, the Supreme Court making a unilateral decision to the same effect is going to cause that on an even larger scale.

Given that the current requirements for being President include being 35 years of age or older, requiring someone to be a naturalized citizen* for 35 years seems like the least obtrusive change, and as previously noted has the advantage of rendering Schwarzenegger ineligible in 2016 but eligible in 2020, allowing one to place the passing of the Amendment earlier in history than the Trump administration, if desired. It seems to me this would be at least as effective at preventing foreign influence as the "natural born citizen" clause.

Of course, that doesn't mean the Amendment needs to have been accepted with no complaints. Part of the news broadcasts and the like the PC's hear might have language such as "the controversial 28th Amendment," and there could even be news of violent protests and the like related to it (Icelander's setting has markedly more violence than our world). Occultists may well have gotten involved in manipulating some of the groups planning some sort of (small-scale) armed revolt in response to it. There's even the possibility of some of Kessler's Night Riders having previously encountered such groups (might make an interesting anecdote for one or both of the senior Night Riders in "Driving Miss Piggy" to share with Kit).

*I'm not clear on exactly how this would work for the children of immigrants. Do they become naturalized citizens upon their parents becoming the same, or do they have to wait until they are of legal age to become naturalized?

Originally Posted by Icelander

On the other hand, there is little to suggest Constitutional Amendments exist as a practical possibility in modern US politics.

Yes, this is problematic. Still, I feel it's outright impossible for the Supreme Court to fully contradict the Constitution and get away with it, so when the alternative is outright impossible, you have to go with the option that's only mostly impossible.

Of course, given that impeaching a Supreme Court Justice requires 50% of the House and 75% of the Senate, it's possible they could get away with it (no Democrat is likely to vote to oust a Democrat Justice while there's a Republican President in office, and the Republicans are likely disinclined to vote to oust a Republican Justice at a time when it's extremely difficult to get a nominated replacement through). That does require a certain degree of cooperation on the part of the people, so to minimize the impact on the setting's current day you'd need to have the case go through some time after the 2018 elections (otherwise I expect you'd see a much different House and Senate being elected, with campaigning based more heavily around the idea of judicial overreach). This would mean it's very likely a big deal in the news around the time of the Galveston events.