« Cheers! Prohibition is Still Dead! | astral66's Blog | John Lennon and Yoko Ono - Happy Xmas (War is Over) »
Supreme Court Rejects Obama Birth Certificate Case
In the end, it all went down fast and simple:
Monday, December 8, 2008
Orders in Pending Cases
*****
08A407 DONOFRIO, LEO C. V. WELLS, NJ SEC. OF STATE
The application for stay addressed to Justice Thomas and referred to the court is denied.
http://www.supremecourtus.gov/orders/courtorders/120808zor.pdf
Hat tip to DanK Is Back at Daily Kos for the breaking story and an excellent diary summarizing the whole sordid affair.
Advertisement
Maybe one of the attorneys here can help me out with this. I read that Clarence Thomas was actually trying to get this on the docket. Is this true or was he just trying to get it on the calendar to be considered for the docket? Or was he trying to get it on the calendar to get it considered for the calendar to get it considered for the docket?
Either way, now he's really done it. I knew he was venal, but I had no idea Justice Thomas was also crazy. What person who passed the bar, let alone got elevated to the highest court in the land, could seriously consider this kind of case for even a second?
December 8, 2008 11:02 AM | Reply | Permalink
The SC Justices aren't required to provide any info when they deny a case, so we'll probably never know. The Federal Code says:
So aside from proving that Obama's mother wasn't a citizen, there really is no "there" there. Maybe Thomas is slipping into early senility?
December 8, 2008 11:05 AM | Reply | Permalink
ps - check out the DanK link, he's got a great analysis of the whole thing.
December 8, 2008 11:07 AM | Reply | Permalink
just so it's clear, especially for the legally trained people in the house:
there would be no issue assuming that the relevant section of 8 USC 1401 was in effect at the time of Obama's birth. it appears that the relevant language of 8 USC 1401(g) was added in 1952, years before Obama was born. so the law you cited would mean that Obama was a US citizen as of his birth no matter where he was born.
by the way, though i can think of charitable explanations for Thomas' decision to refer the matter to the full court, the "revenge theory" makes the most sense to me.
December 8, 2008 12:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
Exactly. Barack Obama's mother is a US citizen. She could have travelled to the Gates of Hell and given birth in Satan's Nursery, and her child would still be a US citizen. "Wingnuts sure is sad peoplz.", says my cat.
December 8, 2008 1:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
This has been discussed thoroughly at http://volokh.com/ It is standard practice on the Supreme Court to submit a case to committee on its second presentation. The case had already been denied once (by Scalia I believe). Upon its second submission the Justice presented with the case submits it to committee to save the other 5 the trouble of having to deny it as well.
I just realized this is a different plaintiff than the case I am referring to: Berg in PA. But I believe my argument still stands. The SCOTUS wants to clear these specious suits as quickly as possible and referring them to committee allows them to free themselves of multiple filings.
December 8, 2008 4:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
Probably because Obama said he wouldn't have put Thomas on the Court in the first place.
Sour grapes indeed...
December 8, 2008 12:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well, I'm glad that's settled. It was the last thing my "conservative" friends were holding onto, hoping to nullify the election
December 8, 2008 4:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
Next I am looking forward to the "Hawaii was illegally annexed as a state, so it really isn't part of the US" argument.
December 8, 2008 4:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
But does that matter as long as his mom wasn't younger than 16 when he was born?
December 8, 2008 5:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm surprised that no one has asked to see her birth certificate yet. How do we know that it's not a fake? :-)
December 8, 2008 6:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
Way back in the primary season, some people were throwing around the idea that John Sydney McCain was not eligible to run for president because he was born at a naval base in Panama. The general reaction was "Good luck with that one, Dude." If Obama or any of the other Democrats could have been, they would have been called on the same point then. That's my perspective on how lame a claim this is.
The Donald Duck Tantrums will continue until logic replaces anger. It could be a while.
Peace.
December 8, 2008 11:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
Good end to a frivolous suit.\
Thanks, astral!
December 8, 2008 6:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
The "birthers" can take off their tin foil hats now.
Kooks.
December 8, 2008 7:44 PM | Reply | Permalink