Thread: No ruling in ‘birther' challenge

No ruling in ‘birther' challenge

By Bill Rankin
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

After hearing evidence with neither President Barack Obama nor his lawyers in attendance, a state administrative law judge on Thursday did not issue a ruling as to whether Obama can be allowed on the state ballot in November.

Lawyers for area residents mounting "birther" challenges told Deputy Chief Judge Michael Malihi that Obama should be found in contempt of court for not appearing when under subpoena to do so. But Malihi did not indicate he would recommend that and cut off one lawyer when he criticized Obama for not attending the hearing.

"It shows not just a contempt for this court, but contempt for the judicial branch," lawyer Van Irion told Malihi.

"I'm not interested in commentary on that, counselor," Malihi quickly replied.

Late Wednesday, Obama's lawyer, Michael Jablonski, wrote Secretary of State Brian Kemp, asking him to suspend the hearing. "It is well established that there is no legitimate issue here -- a conclusion validated time and again by courts around the country," Jablonski wrote.

Jablonski also served notice he would boycott the hearing.

In response, Kemp said the hearing to consider the challenges is required by Georgia law. "If you and your client choose to suspend your participation in the [Office of State Administrative Hearings] proceedings, please understand that you do so at your own peril," Kemp wrote.

Thursday's hearing was held before a packed courtroom with almost every seat taken -- except for those at the defendant's table facing the judge.

No ruling in ‘birther' challenge *| ajc.com

There was no indication when Malihi will issue a ruling.

Obama Birth Issue Again Heard in Court; No Time Set For Decision

http://www.alipac.us/f19/obama-birth...0/#post1254455

‘Birther’ case heard without Obama lawyer

January 26th, 2012, 11:01 am · · posted by Martin Wisckol, Politics reporter

As promised, Barack Obama and his Atlanta-based lawyer skipped a hearing today in which plaintiffs argued that the president should be kept off Georgia’s March 6 primary ballot because there’s inadequate evidence that he’s a natural-born citizen, according to several press reports.

Plaintiffs’ attorneys, who include Laguna Niguel’s Orly Taitz, asked Deputy Chief Judge Michael Malihi that Obama be held in contempt of court for failing to respond to a subpoena for him to appear.

“Does this look like the behavior of an innocent person?” Taitz wrote on her blog Wednesday after Obama lawyer Michael Jablonski said that Obama’s defense would be boycotting today’s hearing.

The hearing is part of an administrative process for handling such disputes. Malihi will forward a recommendation on the case to Georgia Secretary of State Brian P. Kemp, who will decide whether or not Obama should appear on the ballot.

In a letter to Kemp on Wednesday, Jablonski asked Kemp to intervene in the case. He also pointed out that Obama had released his long-form birth certificate showing he was born in Hawaii and that Hawaii officials had affirmed that Obama was born there.

Kemp refused the request, saying official procedure did not allow him to intervene.

“If you and your client choose to suspend your participation in the OSAH [Office of State Administrative Hearing] proceedings, please understand that you do so at your own peril,” Kemp wrote to Jablonski.

Malihi had earlier denied Jablonski’s request to quash the plaintiff’s subpoena for Obama to appear.

A side note to this sideshow: In the unlikely spectacular case that Obama were kept off the November ballot, it is unlikely to make any difference since it’s a winner-take-all situation in a state Obama is not expected to win – or necessarily needs to win.

‘Birther’ case heard without Obama lawyer - Total Buzz - The Orange County Register : The Orange County Register

Rachel Maddow Takes On Georgia Court’s ‘Birther’ Case Against Obama: It’s Like ‘Dividing By Zero’

Video
by Alex Alvarez | 9:25 am, January 27th, 2012

On Thursday, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow took on the “birther” movement, warning viewers not to Google “Obama born” lest they find themselves plummeting down an online rabbit hole of “crazy.” She pointed out several attempts in Alabama to take Barack Obama off the ballot in that state on the grounds that he’s not really a U.S. citizen.

In Georgia, meanwhile, a judge ordered President Obama to appear in an Atlanta court, where the plaintiffs were to be represented by none other than birther movement poster woman and “astonishing Russian dentist” Orly Taitz, as well as by State Representative Mark Hatfield

RELATED: MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell Lambastes Orly Taitz, Ends Interview Early

“You don’t want to dignify this nonsense,” said Maddow, describing the cases as “dividing by zero.”

President Obama did not, obviously, attend yesterday’s hearing in Atlanta, nor did his lawyer, who called the case “baseless” as well as a “sanctionable abuse of our legal process.” Georgia’s Secretary of State wrote back saying that if “you and your client choose to suspend your participation in the OSAH proceedings, please understand that you do so at your own peril.”

Maddow invited Georgia’s Democratic party chairman Mike Berlon to the show. “Do you think that Georgia Republicans realize,” Maddow asked him, “how — I’m sorry to use the phrase — but how backward and racist the birther trip seems?”

“I think the mainstream Republicans really do understand that it’s way beyond the pale,” said Berlon. “I think most Republicans in Georgia would just like to get on to addressing the issues.”

So would Georgia Republicans come out and support their Democratic brethren in keeping Obama on the state ballot should the case go against the President? “You know, I’d like to think that’s the case,” said Berlon, “but I’ll tell you the truth: when it comes to politics, I don’t think that would happen. I think that if the Secretary of State made the decision to take the President off the ballot, no one’s really going to jump up to help us.”
Watch, via MSNBC:

Rachel Maddow Takes On Georgia Court’s ‘Birther’ Case Against Obama: It’s Like ‘Dividing By Zero’ | Mediaite