O.C. lawsuit challenging Obama birthplace dismissed

October 29th, 2009, 10:58 am
Martin Wisckol, Politics reporter

U.S. District Judge David O. Carter this morning dismissed Laguna Niguel attorney Orly Taitz’s lawsuit alleging that Barack Obama is not a natural-born citizen and so is not the country’s legitimate president.

Carter ruled (link to the decision is below) that the federal courts do not have the constitutional powers to remove a sitting president. He also sharply criticized the conduct of attorney Taitz, caller her actions unethical and possibly illegal.

Taitz said last week that she would appeal the matter if the case was dismissed.

Taitz says that Obama may have been born in Kenya or Indonesia - and that even if he was born in the U.S., he’s not a natural-born citizen because his father was Kenyan. Legal experts have generally considered natural-born citizens to be anyone who was born in the U.S., regardless of parents’ citizenship - but a specific definition is not given in the Constitution and the Supreme Court has never ruled on the matter.

However, Carter never got to the substance of these charges, examining instead the federal courts’ powers under the U.S. Constitution to remove a sitting president.

“In order for Plaintiffs’ alleged injury to be fully addressed, Plaintiffs would have the Court intervene, upheave the results of a national election, declare the President illegitimate, shut down the functioning of the government of the United States, and leave this country defenseless,â€