# What substantive difference would it make if Obama had been born in Kenya?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-substantive-difference-would-it-make-if-obama-had-been-born-in-kenya/731176>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [September 14, 2015, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-substantive-difference-would-it-make-if-obama-had-been-born-in-kenya/731176 "2015-09-14T03:50:10Z")\
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**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\
**Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-substantive-difference-would-it-make-if-obama-had-been-born-in-kenya/731176/141 "2015-09-18T03:17:52Z")

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> [@JRDelirious](#):
>
> Actually not so much the Constitution as the Nationality Act, which as was in effect in 1961 may have made his mother too young to transmit citizenship-by-descent on her own right at birth.

EXCEPT under the law at that time, a child of an unmarried couple receives the mother’s citizenship automatically. It can be argued Obama’s parents were not married since she was the second wife in a bigamous marriage.

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