You remember, that document that stands between us and tyranny.

I’ve been reading a lot of conservative blogs lately that have been telling me that all of the lawsuits challenging Mr. Obama’s right to be president are products of some new derangement syndrome.

They emphasize what a long shot it is to get the US Supreme Court to even pay attention to this. They don’t want to back losers. Or whacko conspiracy theorists.

They don’t see any credible evidence to challenge the assertion that Obama is, in fact, a natural born citizen, as required by the Constitution.

But what they don’t address is this important question: who is entitled to a hearing on this subject?

So far, the courts have ruled that ordinary citizens don’t have the right to a hearing on it, and it doesn’t matter if they’ve contributed to anyone’s campaign or taken any steps that would be frustrated by the election of a president who is not qualified to serve under the Constitution.

If you’re just an ordinary person, you don’t have the right to even ask that question in a court in this country.

Well, this bothers me.

I don’t care if the evidence these challengers have so far presented doesn’t convince me, because the question is whether they should be allowed to present it at all, and whether they should be allowed the normal rights of litigants, such as subpoenas and ordinary discovery.

If whacko truthers don’t have standing to raise a constitutional challenge to a candidate’s right to be president under the constitution, then who does?

Does it have to be somebody who meets the conservative elite’s definition of an intelligent person? Or could it be just somebody who might be harmed by an unconstitutional presidency? I imagine there might be many so situated.

Those who seek to silence this conflict may justify their efforts with the goal of avoiding a constitutional crisis.

But to accomplish this avoidance, they would have to muzzle every attorney in the country who might be involved in litigation arising out of bills signed into law by the new president.

We live in interesting times indeed. Will our constitution survive?

Cross posted at www.steamvalveblog.com