The prof spoke in a way that implied this is an accepted truth in the legal community, rather than just his own opinion. But IANAL for a reason, I got a D in that class and maybe he bamboozled me :)
America is incredible at "doing the right thing" when push comes to shove - regardless of policy, procedure, or legalese. In so many ways, going through life in the US means people figure out how to help you, unblock you, or ignore hurdles.
Allowing Arnold to become president if he was interested is clearly such thing - no sensible person would think it should be prevented - so it won't.
But unfortunately the whole procedure is not documented, relies heavily on systemic and entrenched privilege, and as the Trump administration revealed, and how the culture has evolved since then, can absolutely be mercilessly abused and taken advantage of by bad actors. The fact that the President could violate dozens of straight up laws, and not be charged with any crime is a mockery of the justice system. It really is "rules for thee, not for me".
As a white male, I find America (and to some degree Canada, which straddles the middleground) very convenient. As opposed to when I lived in Western Europe, and found myself facing an emotionless bureaucrat telling me "I'm sorry, there's nothing I can do."
But I also know a system with unwritten rules is never going to be equal, never mind equitable.
Show me where it says that.
(IANAL)
So the law professor talked like a lawyer? :)
It seems pretty on-brand to be honest though, I wonder why that rule exists and what benefit it provides. The first couple presidents couldn't have met it, so I wonder when it was introduced.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_presidential_qualifica...
"No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President" from section 1, Article 2 of the US Constitution (adopted 1789).
There is some legal debate about what "natural born Citizen" means now, but that has not fully been testing in court IIUC.
There’s two sources of law for determining citizenship though: 1. The Constitution and 2. Laws that Congress passes. If you’re born a citizen according to either of these sources, congrats, you’re a natural born citizen.
"No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President"
The first few presidents were citizens of the US when the Constitution was adopted (previously, the US had been governed by the Articles of Confederation.)
The first American born president (born after the revolution) was Van Buren, the first 7 were born British citizens!
> No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President;
Hamilton was a citizen at the time of the Constitution’s adoption and was therefore eligible to run for president should he have been so inclined.
Van Buren was born in NY, in the US, but was the only president that used English as a second language. Both of his parents were of Dutch descent.
I have no idea about Thiel's specific case, and it doesn't seem like there's any info about it online.