Cornell Law Library: Hillary Clinton’s Private Email Server Disqualifies Her for Presidency-Fiction!
Summary of eRumor:
A “word for word” read of U.S. Code Title 18, Section 2071, from the Cornell Law Library clearly disqualifies Hillary Clinton to serve as president because of her use of a private email server.
The Truth:
Claims that Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server while she served as secretary of state have been around for some time, but they don’t seem to check out.
Former Attorney General Michael Mukasy sparked controversy when he publicly argued on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that Clinton was disqualified to serve as president under U.S. Code Title 18, Section 2071 — the same one cited in the Cornell Law Library claim:
“I think the more dangerous part of this, from her standpoint, is not so much the placement of the material here as wiping the server. Number one, that’s a felony, but that statute disqualifies you from holding any further office in the United States and she’s running for a further office under the United States.”
The statute that Mukasey referred to, as it appears in the Cornell Law Library, reads:
(a)Whoever willfully and unlawfully conceals, removes, mutilates, obliterates, or destroys, or attempts to do so, or, with intent to do so takes and carries away any record, proceeding, map, book, paper, document, or other thing, filed or deposited with any clerk or officer of any court of the United States, or in any public office, or with any judicial or public officer of the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.
(b)Whoever, having the custody of any such record, proceeding, map, book, document, paper, or other thing, willfully and unlawfully conceals, removes, mutilates, obliterates, falsifies, or destroys the same, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both; and shall forfeit his office and be disqualified from holding any office under the United States. As used in this subsection, the term “office” does not include the office held by any person as a retired officer of the Armed Forces of the United States.
However, Seth Barrett Tillman, a former Rutgers law professor, countered that applying the statute to presidential candidates would be unconstitutional because “the only limits on qualifications to be president are the Constitution — having U.S. citizenship, being at least 35, and having lived in U.S. at least 14 years,” Pete Williams of NBC News reported in August 2015.
Seth Barrett Tillman later clarified his position in an email to TruthorFiction.com:
My position is that no federal statute, e.g. Section 2071, can add qualifications to elected federal positions, including the presidency. Those qualifications include: being a natural born U.S. citizen, being 35 years old or older, and 14 years residence in the United States, and also others listed in the Constitution….
Mukasey later reversed his previous position that the public server email flap disqualified Clinton from running for president in another appearance on MSNBC News.
Given all that, we’re calling claims that a word-for-word reading of U.S. Code Title 18, Section 2071, at the Cornell Law Library disqualifies Clinton from serving as president as “false.”