Trump Is Correct: Smoking Gun And Politico Are Wrong

Donald Trump submitted a certificate of birth as his birth certificate and was immediately pounced upon by various pundits who declared that a certificate of birth is not a birth certificate and that a birth certificate can only come from a government agency such as the department of health.

Section 4103 of NYS Public Health Law states that government agency certified copies are as good as the original "certificate of birth" and Donald has an original certificate of birth:

2. Any copy of the record of a birth or of a death or any certificate of registration of birth or any certification of birth, when properly certified by the local registrar, shall be prima facie evidence of the facts therein stated in all courts and places and in all actions, proceedings, or applications, judicial, administrative or otherwise, and any such certificate of registration of birth or any such certification of birth shall be accepted with the same force and effect with respect to the facts therein stated as the original certificate of birth or a certified copy thereof.[emphasis added]

Additionally, New York State laws use "birth certificate" and "certificate of birth" interchangeably and a government agency, such as a health department can only issue a certified copy, what the various pundits call a birth certificate, of the filed certificate of birth.

New York State Public Heath Law, Title 3, Registration of Births, Section 4130 and following, deals with birth certificates and certificates of birth.

The law uses the phrases "certificate of birth" and "birth certificate" throughout interchangeably.

For example, Section 4132 is titled, "Birth certificate; form and content" but the first sentence of the law says:

1. The certificate of birth shall contain such information...

3. (a) The certificate shall be signed by the attending physician or nurse-midwife, with date of signature and his or her address....

4. The registrar shall enter the exact date of filing of the certificate of birth in his office attested by his official signature and registered number of birth.

Also, NYS Public Health Law Section 4174 uses both phrases interchangeably and states:

1. The commissioner or any person authorized by him shall:

(b) issue certified copies or certified transcripts of birth certificates only (1) upon order of a court of competent jurisdiction, or (2) upon specific request therefor by the person, if eighteen years of age or more, or by a parent or other lawful representative of the person, to whom the record of birth relates, or (3) upon specific request therefor by a department of a state or the federal government of the United States;

(c) upon request, issue a wallet-size certification of birth, in a form and bearing a design provided by the commissioner. Each applicant for a wallet-size certification of birth shall emit to the commissioner with such application, a fee determined by the department;

(d) upon request, issue certification of birth or death unless in his judgment it does not appear to be necessary or required for a proper purpose;

Donald Trump has an original certificate of birth, which is also called a birth certificate and recognized in law. Certified copies of the filed "certificate of birth" so called "birth certificates" are also valid, but neither is more valid than the other and the only birth certificate is the one Trump produced. The others, from the Department of Health, are certified copies.




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