Bad Ideas, Barack Obama, Lawyer of the Day

Lawyer of the Day: Orly Taitz

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Orly Taitz is a California attorney described by Wikipedia as “a leading figure in the ‘birther’ movement, which challenges whether Barack Obama is a natural-born citizen eligible to serve as President of the United States.” She started the Defend Our Freedoms nonprofit in order to wage the birther battle. We’re glad to see that its website does not have a photo of Obama with a question mark; instead, it has a tasteful image of Taitz’s head photoshopped over the Constitution, the American flag, and ALR volumes.
Earlier this year, Taitz went to federal court (M.D. Ga.) to request a restraining order on behalf of Army doctor Connie Rhodes preventing Rhodes’s deployment to Iraq. Taitz claimed that the deployment order was illegal because President Obama is not legally president, and attached among her evidence the obviously-faked Kenyan birth certificate for Obama that has circulated on the Internetz.
Federal judge Clay Land aborted that birther suit and reprimanded Taitz for filing a frivolous lawsuit. Shortly thereafter, Connie Rhodes wrote Judge Land a letter saying she found out about the lawsuit via media reports and had neither asked Taitz to represent her nor wished to resist her deployment.
Yet Taitz is still laboring over this suit and filed an order challenging Land’s dismissal of the case. He responded by giving her a two-week deadline to explain why he shouldn’t sanction her and fine her $10,000. On the deadline, she filed a motion to recuse Land from the case. He didn’t like that…


As we mentioned in yesterday’s Non-Sequiturs, Judge Land decided to double the amount of the fine. Now, Taitz has 30 days to pay $20,000. The Ledger-Enquirer highlights the smackdown from Land’s order:

“The absolute absence of any legitimate legal argument, combined with the political diatribe in her motions, demonstrates that Ms. Taitz’ purpose is to advance a political agenda and not to pursue a legitimate legal cause of action,” Land states. “Rather than citing to binding legal precedent, she calls the president names, accuses (Land) of treason and gratuitously slanders the president’s father.”
In addition, Land calls Taitz’s argument that she needed more time to respond to his two-week deadline as “shockingly devoid of reality that it is difficult to know how to respond.” Her response to the judge’s order, in which she makes the allegations of bias against Land, is “breathtaking in its arrogance and borders on delusional. She expresses no contrition or regret regarding her misconduct.”

Talking Points Memo called Taitz to ask whether she would pay the $20,000 fine:

“Are you kidding? Of course not,” she said, asked whether she planned to send a check. “This is a form of intimidation.”

Instead, she’s filing yet another written response.
Taitz, who likes to refer to herself as “Dr. Orly Taitz Esquire,” has a law degree from distance learning school Taft and a dental degree from Hebrew University. Her legal training may be weak, but Judge Land would likely testify that she has mastered the dentist’s art of causing pain.
Judge Land sanctions Orly Taitz $20,000 [Ledger-Enquirer]
Orly Taitz coverage [Talking Points Memo]

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