TheEqual Opportunity to Govern Amendment, also known as theHatch Amendment orArnold Amendment, is a proposed United Statesconstitutional amendment that would remove theConstitution's requirement that thepresident andvice president must benatural-born citizens. It was proposed in July 2003 bysenatorOrrin Hatch, and would allownaturalized citizens to run for either office when they have been citizens for 20 years. The name Arnold Amendment is a reference toArnold Schwarzenegger, a naturalized citizen and thegovernor of California from 2003 to 2011.
The text of the amendment reads as follows:
Section 1. A person who is a citizen of the United States, who has been for 20 years a citizen of the United States, and who is otherwise eligible to the Office of President, is not ineligible to that Office by reason of not being a native-born citizen of the United States.
Section 2. This article shall not take effect unless it has been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States not later than 7 years from the date of its submission to the States by the Congress.
The amendment was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. Hearings were held on October 5, 2004, two months before the end of the second session of the108th United States Congress, but no further action was taken.
This proposal was widely seen as an attempt to make new California governorArnold Schwarzenegger (born inAustria and naturalized in 1983) eligible for the presidency and is sometimes nicknamed the "Arnold Amendment" or "Amend for Arnold".[1][2][3]
Gallup polls from 2003 and 2004 found that a majority of Americans were opposed to the amendment with 28% supporting it and 70% opposing it in 2003 and 31% supporting it and 67% opposing it in 2004.[4]
