By James Donahue

While we do not expect the U.S. Supreme Court justices to give either matter serious consideration, the fact that two legal cases challenging President Elect Barack Obama’s legal qualifications to hold the office of President are coming up for their consideration is a reflection of twisted thinking among some nincompoops within our society.

The justices will decide which cases to hear when they gather for a private conference in Washington on Dec. 5. Among the cases awaiting their review are two separate claims that Mr. Obama is not a natural-born American citizen and therefore should not be allowed to take office on Jan. 20.

These are among a smattering of similar lawsuits filed in courts by private citizens and special interest groups all across the land. Most were disposed of quickly by the lower courts. These two squeezed their way all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which should never have happened.

Philip Berg, a lawyer in Pennsylvania, argues that the circumstances of Obama’s birth are vague and that he may have been born in Kenya. He says Obama’s mother flew to Hawaii after he was born to register the birth there, thus giving him U.S. citizenship.

From New Jersey, lawyer Leo Donofrio brings a case that state election officials failed to ensure that only legally qualified candidates got on the ballot. He argues that Obama is not “natural born,” as demanded in the Constitution, because his father was Kenyan.

But Obama’s mother was a U.S. citizen, which automatically gives him citizenship, a story in the Los Angeles Times states. That paper was one of many that attempted to quash the rumor by obtaining and publishing a copy of Obama’s birth certificate.

The birth certificate, a legal document, states that Obama was born in Oahu, Honolulu, Hawaii on Aug. 4, 1961, at 7:24 p.m. Donofrio’s argument apparently hinges on the fact that the document does not name a hospital where Obama was born, or name the doctor who delivered him. Is this a legal requirement? Suppose a midwife assisted in the delivery in someone’s home?

The point to all this is that some people are going to great lengths in an effort to block Mr. Obama, the first black American to ever win the office of President, from taking that job. That he was an overwhelming favorite among voters, and that he has inspired a nation with a touch of hope in this, one of the darkest times in our nation’s history, does not seem to deter these people.

It is racial bigotry at its worst, and it needs to be exposed for what it is. This kind of assault is not only a disgrace for all involved, it is a sign that some Americans remain tainted with malicious and unfounded hatred for people of different skin color and religious conviction, in spite of a Constitutional promise of human equality.