us-constitution elections us-president
What if a previous US President was found ineligible to be President?
<p>Purely a hypothetical question:  What if a previous US President was found ineligible to be President?</p>
<p>Lets say we found Obama's <em>&quot;real&quot;</em> birth certificate and he was not born in the US.</p>
<p>What would happen?  Are there any provisions for this?  Would laws be invalidated?  Supreme Court justices be removed?  Would he be subject to some sort or prosecution?  What about treaties signed?  Would we remove him from &quot;history&quot; and say the Vice President was elected (I doubt that, as he wasnt sworn in)?</p>
<p>As I said, purely hypothetical.</p>

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<p>What would happen?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Nothing.</p>
<p>The Courts would deem it to be a political question that was decisively and conclusively resolved when Congress ratified the electoral vote and the President was sworn in.</p>
<p>To the extent that there was a possibility of challenging it, this would be considered untimely not later than the end of the President's term.</p>

<p>In the hypothetical past, some person could petition for writ of <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/quo_warranto" rel="nofollow noreferrer">quo warranto</a>, and if your alternative reality can be proven, the person may be removed from office, indeed this happened a half a year ago in New Mexico, with reference to Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. This would have no effect on the law and other actions taken while he was president, it would only impact his ability to appoint future judges and sign future laws. As far as I know, the Supreme Court has never entertained any such writ w.r.t. qualification for federal office.</p>
