Two attorneys who remain unconvinced that President Barack Obama was born in the United States took their case to a Pasadena courtroom today, asking an appellate court panel to reinstate their lawsuit challenging his citizenship and asking for closer examination of his birth certificate.
U.S. District Judge David O. Carter in Santa Ana dismissed their case in 2009, ruling that the court was not the proper place to challenge a president's election—echoing a ruling by a federal judge in Georgia.
But attorneys Gary Kreep and Orly Taitz continued to press their case today—even though Obama released his Hawaiian birth certificate last week.
"The only recourse for the people is the courts," Kreep, who is based in Ramona, told the panel. "Nobody has been willing to take on Mr. Obama."
Taitz, of Rancho Santa Margarita, added, "Mr. Obama, the evidence shows, committed a fraud."
Assistant U.S. Attorney David DeJute insisted that the courts were not the proper venue to challenge the president, saying only Congress can do so through the impeachment process.
The panel heard about an hour of arguments, then took the matter under submission.
Kreep and Taitz have lost several legal efforts to disqualify the president from holding that office, and have faced sanctions for abusing the federal court system. Taitz was fined $20,000 by a judge in Georgia.
Taitz said today she was surprised by the treatment she has received from the courts and federal prosecutors.
"I come from the Soviet Union,'' she said. "I would expect that in the Soviet Union. I would not expect it here."
Although the original lawsuit sought release of the birth certificate, the pair now want a forensic expert to examine the birth certificate released by Obama last week.
Taitz has three separate court actions pending to challenge Obama's qualifications to serve as president. She told City News Service last week that she questions the birth certificate's authenticity because it lists the president's father's race as African, instead of negro.
Kreep and Taitz also challenge the president's citizenship because they believe he was adopted by a foster father while living in Indonesia as a child, according to the United States Justice Foundation. Kreep is the foundation's executive director.
Obama said last week he hoped that releasing the long-form birth certificate would help end the so-called "birther" movement.
"I know there's going to be a segment of people for which, no matter what we put out, this issue will not be put to rest," he said. "But I'm speaking to the vast majority of the American people, as well as the press--we do not have time for this kind of silliness. We've got better stuff to do. We've got big problems to solve. And I'm confident we can solve them, but we're going to have to focus on them, not on this."
The president also gently poked the birther movement at Saturday's White House Correspondent's Dinner.
The president said Donald Trump and other birthers were happy that the long-form birth certificate had been released, because it allowed them to investigate other questions like "Did we fake the moon landing? What really happened in Roswell? And where are (missing rappers) Biggie and Tupac?"
— City News Service
