causes & news

*~Updated Below I, II~

Persistence, it turns out, doesn't always end in success.  It's a lesson we all learn at one time or another, but Orly Taitz, Esq., has had the displeasure of repeatedly learning that lesson in a short period of time.

If you're unfamiliar with Taitz, let me tell you, she's something else.  She's a real estate agent in the highly volatile California market, serial filer of frivolous lawsuits tasked with de-legitimizing the President of the United States, and a dentist!  Allow me to introduce you to the legal powerhouse of the "birther" movement:

How could she go wrong?

If you made it through the clip, I would like to impose upon you, a brief intellectual exercise.  I want you to picture Taitz in your minds eye, and wrap yourself in the abrasive timber of her falsetto voice.   Then I'd like you to imagine the judge who had to hear her arguments accusing Barack Obama & his family of conspiring with a Hawaiian hospital to falsify his citizenship.  You know, in case he were to become president someday.

Can you picture the judge in your mind?  What do you suppose someone in his position might say following months of getting his time wasted?

Never mind.  You can stop imagining. Did what you imagined sound anything like this? (emphasis added):

Plaintiff [Connie Rhodes], a Captain in the United States Army, seeks a temporary restraining order to prevent the Army from deploying her to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Plaintiff alleges that her deployment orders are unconstitutional and unenforceable because President Barack Obama is not constitutionally eligible to act as Commander in Chief of the United States armed forces. After conducting a hearing on Plaintiff’s motion, the Court finds that Plaintiff’s claims are frivolous. Accordingly, her application for a temporary restraining order (Doc. 3) is denied, and her Complaint is dismissed in its entirety. Furthermore, Plaintiff’s counsel is hereby notified that the filing of any future actions in this Court, which are similarly frivolous, shall subject counsel to sanctions.

The above quote from U.S. District Judge, Clay D. Land -- an appointment of George W. Bush -- is merely the introduction to his ruling.  Within the 14 pages that follow,interspersed with case citations & explanations of jurisdiction, Judge Land displayed an incredible acumen for snark.  Here's a taste:

...in a remarkable shifting of the traditional legal burden of proof, Plaintiff unashamedly alleges that Defendant has the burden to prove his “natural born” status. (Id. ¶¶ 136-138, 148.) Thus, Plaintiff’s counsel, who champions herself as a defender of liberty and freedom, seeks to use the power of the judiciary to compel a citizen, albeit the President of the United States, to “prove his innocence” to “charges” that are based upon conjecture and speculation. Any middle school civics student would readily recognize the irony of abandoning fundamental principles upon which our Country was founded in order to purportedly “protect and preserve” those very principles...

Plaintiff’s complaint is not plausible on its face. To the extent that it alleges any “facts,” the Complaint does not connect those facts to any actual violation of Plaintiff’s individual constitutional rights. Unlike in Alice in Wonderland, simply saying something is so does not make it so.

Read Judge Land's ruling in its entirety, here.

That could have been the end of it.  Orly Taitz could have taken her medicine and pressed on to California for her next legal battle on behalf of "birther" cause.  Instead, Taitz decided to attack Judge Land in an interview with TalkingPointsMemo, Sept. 16, during which she accused Land of "treason," among other things.  When TPM's Justin Elliot inquired if she would continue if her client desired, Taitz said, "Oh absolutely, absolutely," she said. "Listen, Nelson Mandela stayed in prison for years in order to get to the truth and justice."

Elliot followed up Sept. 17, with another TPM post, reporting, "...in response to Taitz's comments to TPM calling the judge corrupt and suggesting he should be tried for treason, a fellow member of the California bar has filed a formal complaint against Taitz."

It will be interesting to see how the media will treat the accumulating bad news for the "birthers."  The mainstream media (MSM) has been all too happy to give Taitz a platform for her paper waving innuendo shtick which, incidentally, was much the same as her performance in court.

The MSM let this go on, even when "rightbloggers" were perceptive enough to keep Taitz, and "birthers" in general, at arms length.  Check out Roy Edroso's Aug. 3 post at The Village Voice for numerous examples of right-wingers expressing their beliefe that, while Obama is a citizen, but...

Taitz's next "birther" legal effort will be Oct. 5 -- assuming she's still licensed to practice law -- when she'll have to rebut a government argument for dismissal.  For more on the upcoming case & why Orly Taitz will fail in her efforts, check out J. Edward Tremlett's Sept 16. post at OpEdNews.

Update I~ 18 September 2009, 7:P.M. CST:

If you thought that Justice Land would ignore being accused of treason by Orly Taitz, you would be mistaken.

It appears that Taitz filed a complaint ridden motion for reconsideration of the court's Sept. 16 order.  Land responded Sept. 18 with a new order, written in the same stinging tone as the first.

Judge Land began his follow-up, declaring, "She simply repeats the same bare and conclusory allegations that the Court found frivolous in itsprevious order."

Again, Land assesses that Taitz's actions are politically motivated:

"...it is clear that Plaintiff’s counsel seeks to continue to use the federal judiciary as a platform to further her political “birther agenda.” She has provided no legal or factual basis for the Court to interfere with deployment orders of the United States Army. She supports her claims with subjective belief, speculation and conjecture, which have never been sufficient to maintain a legal cause of action... Although the First Amendment may allow Plaintiff’s counsel to make these wild accusations on her blog or in her press conferences, the federal courts are reserved for hearing genuine legal disputes and not as a platform for political rhetoric that is disconnected from any legitimate legal cause of action."

According to the new order, Orly has 14 days to explain to the court why she shouldn't be penalized $10,000 for her actions.


Update II ~ 18 September 2009, 11:30P.M.:

If you've ever witnessed someone having a really bad losing streak - from a distance, not so close that you'd get any on you - will recognize the moment; when the consequences suffered, resultant of the spiraling's own bad actions, crosses the threshold of the deserved, and enters a state of sympathetic potential.

 

In the case of Orly Taitz, Esq., we've yet to cross that threshold.

 

CPT Connie M. Rhodes, M.D., plaintiff in the above described legal catastrophe, submitted a letter to Judge Land, asserted that her attorney had gone rouge.  According to Rhodes' Sept. 18 letter, faxed to the court, Taitz did not consult with Rhodes before filing the motion which provoked the order & sanctions, discussed in Update I.

 

Rhodes found out about the motion to stay her deployment as she was packing for Iraq.  "I thank you for hearing my case and respect the ruling given on September 16, 2009," she wrote.  "It is evident that the original filing... was full of political conjecture."

[...]

"Furthermore, I do not wish for Ms. Taitz to file any future motions or represent me in any way in this court.  It is my plan to file a complaint with the California State Bar due to her reprehensible and unprofessional behavior."

 

Two ethics complaints in as many weeks.  Taitz should probably get started scratching the "Esquire" off her letterhead.

 

As for Rhodes, likely on her way to Iraq as I write, be safe.  America, and your Commander in Chief, no doubt, are thankful for your service.

See Also:
"The Definitive Birther Takedown." Media Matters Action Network, 28 July 2009.

Elsewhere on Care2:
"Extremists at Home..." Care2.com Political Causes Blog, 17 Sept. 2009.

*Specia thanks to @tesibria for sending me the court document links.

Read more: law, justice, politics, political, media, opinion, obama, barack obama, Birthers, birther, birther movement, orly taitz, taitz, court ruling, case dismissed, clay d land, clay land