Supreme Court to Orly Taitz: Pay Up for "Birther" Litigation

By: Kevin Hayes
Topics: Daily Blotter

Supreme Court to Orly Taitz: Pay Up for "Frivolous" Birther Litigation

Orly Taitz (FiredUpMissouri/Flickr)

WASHINGTON (CBS/AP) The Supreme Court has upheld a $20,000 fine against Orly Taitz, a leader in the "birther" movement that challenges President Barack Obama's citizenship.

On Monday, the high court refused to block a federal judge's October 2009 ruling that required the California lawyer and dentist to pay the $20,000 fine for filing a "frivolous" litigation. The judge said Taitz attempted to misuse the federal courts to push a political agenda.

Taitz sued in Georgia federal court on behalf of Army Capt. Connie Rhodes. Rhodes sought to avoid deployment to Iraq by claiming Obama wasn't born in the United States.

Orly Taitz has claimed that Obama was born in Kenya, and hasn't produced a true copy of his birth certificate, according to The Joplin Globe.

Justice Samuel Alito on Monday rejected Taitz's second request to block the sanctions. Justice Clarence Thomas had rejected the request earlier.

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by leahfromSD August 18, 2010 11:32 AM EDT

She has every right to want the president to provide documentation that he is a natural born citizen. Our Constitution states that our president must be a natural born citizen. Obviously our president can't or won't comply which makes a person wonder why? We the people of the United States have strayed very far from the original intent of our founding fathers.

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by simidez805 August 18, 2010 2:22 PM EDT: It has been confirmed numerous times. If he was not born here, wouldn't the Repubs brought it up at elections in 2008? He is the President. Stop all this bs already.

by mten10 August 17, 2010 6:47 PM EDT

Regardless of if President Obama was born in the United States or not (and I believe he was born in Hawaii) his mother was a American citizen.
My sister's daughter was born in Italy while she was in the US Airforce and has dual citizenship and if I am not mistaken this applies to all Americans. This was the case for John McCain who was born in Panama, outside the United States.
We have more important things to worry about like creating jobs for Americans not wasting time in court messing with stupid things like this. She should have been fined a million dollars.

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by VSDonald August 21, 2010 1:19 PM EDT: Why...I'll be Arnold Swarcheneggerd !!

by Wildwood1966 August 17, 2010 4:57 PM EDT

not sure that it is racial hate - wh won the election? I believe lots of people are not sure he was born here and want proof - not an unreasonable request.

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by CaribouBarbie August 17, 2010 6:07 PM EDT: I wonder how Orly Taitz became a U.S. citizen. She is a bleached blonde from the Middle East, and I'm assuming she is a naturalized citizen, maybe not. I heard her speak on TV, and her accent was so thick that I could barely understand her. We should be questioning her citizenship and asking what are her motives for continuing this controversy, since she is not truly a U.S. citizen!!


by tootjn2 August 17, 2010 3:17 PM EDT: I wish they had given her even MORE of a fine. How stupid it is for people to go around saying Obama wasn't born in the USA, and it's even worse that there's enough idiots around that believe it that it becomes a MOVEMENT . It is in fact pure racism, when will we get past such ignorance?; Reply to this comment