By James Janega
The U.S. Supreme Court will consider Friday whether to take up a lawsuit challenging President-elect Barack Obama's U.S. citizenship, a continuation of a New Jersey case embraced by some opponents of Obama's election.
The meeting of justices will coincide with a vigil by the filer's supporters in Washington on the steps of the nation's highest court.
The suit originally sought to stay the election, and was filed on behalf of Leo Donofrio against New Jersey Secretary of State Nina Mitchell Wells.
Legal experts say the appeal has little chance of succeeding, despite appearing on the court's schedule. Legal records show it is only the tip of an iceberg of nationwide efforts seeking to derail Obama's election over accusations that he either wasn't born a U.S. citizen or that he later renounced his citizenship in Indonesia.
The Obama campaign has maintained that he was born in Hawaii, has an authentic birth certificate, and is a "natural-born" U.S. citizen. Hawaiian officials agree.
Among those filing lawsuits is Alan Keyes, who lost to Obama in the 2004 Illinois Senate race. Keyes' suit seeks to halt certification of votes in California. Another suit by a Kentucky man seeks to have a federal judge review Obama's original birth certificate, which Hawaiian officials say is locked in a state vault.
Other suits have been filed by Andy Martin, whose case was dismissed in Hawaii, and by an Ohio man whose case also was dismissed. Five more suits, all later dismissed, were filed in Hawaii by a person who is currently suing the "Peoples Association of Human, Animals Conceived God/s and Religions, John McCain (and) USA Govt." The plaintiff previously sought to sue Wikipedia and "All News Media."
The most famous case questioning Obama's citizenship was filed in Pennsylvania in August on behalf of Philip J. Berg and sought to enjoin the Democratic National Committee from nominating Obama. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to accept the case. Earlier, a federal judge rejected it for "lack of standing" — ruling that Berg had no legal right to sue. In cases like this, judges sometimes believe the matter is best left to political institutions, such as the Electoral College or Congress, said legal scholar Eugene Volokh of the University of California at Los Angeles.
The remaining case with the highest profile is Donofrio vs. Wells. Because it was distributed by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to other justices for conference, it gained undue importance for people unschooled in how the court works, Volokh said.
Many petitioners seeking stays of pending events have their cases distributed to the full court, he said. Of those, Volokh found that 782 were denied in the last eight years while just 60 were heard — and not all of those ultimately were successful.
Source: Chron.com
ABC NEWS GETS THE DONOFRIO SCOTUS STORY WRONG
Posted in Uncategorized on December 4, 2008 by naturalborncitizen
Below is the text of a letter Leo Donofrio just sent to ABC News:
Dear Mr. Terry Owens and ABC News.
The story you printed today with the headline, “Supreme Court to Decide Obama Citizenship” is riddled with errors. Allow me to correct the record for you. I have said in my law suit that I believe Obama was born in Hawaii, so I have no idea why your story makes it seem as if my law suit is centered on the issue of where Obama was born. You wrote,
“The President-elect has maintained he was born in the United States.”
The main argument of my law suit alleges that since Obama was a British citizen – at birth – a fact he admits is true, then he cannot be a “natural born citizen”. The word “born” has meaning. It deals with the status of a presidential candidate “at birth”. Obama had dual nationality at birth. The status of the candidate at the time of the election is not as relevant to the provisions of the Constitution as is his status “at birth.” If one is not “born” a natural born citizen, he can never be a natural born citizen.
Furthermore, the case is scheduled for conference of all nine Justices, not eight. You should correct that.
And your reporting, which could have been complete with a simple phone call to the Public Information Office, is also deficient in that it wasn’t Justice Thomas alone who distributed the case for conference of December 5, 2008. That was a decision taken after consideration of the full Court.
There are two docket entries for Nov. 19. One of them shows that Justice Thomas referred the case to the full court. The other indicates that the full court distributed the case for conference of Dec. 5. I suggest you call Patricia McCabe Estrada, Deputy Public Information Officer for the United States Supreme Court. She will set you and your story straight.
The case could have easily been denied after Justice Thomas referred it to the full court. There was no requirement that it be distributed for conference. In fact, the normal procedure in referred applications involves no public mention of such cases until after the full Court has taken some action. There is an official Supreme Court Publication entitled
“A REPORTER’S GUIDE TO APPLICATIONS Pending Before The Supreme Court of the United States”
You may find it here:
http://www.supremecourtus.gov/publicinfo/reportersguide.pdf
It will guide you with accuracy to the actions involved in the case you are reporting upon. On page 3, it states:
“The Circuit Justice may act on an application alone or refer it to the full Court for consideration. The fact that an application has been referred to the full Court may not be known publicly until the Court acts on the application and the referral is noted in the Court’s order.“
Now go back and check the docket url for my case.
http://origin.www.supremecourtus.gov/docket/08a407.htm
Another misleading element of your story is the headline. The Supreme Court will be focused on the issue of Obama’s eligibility to be President, not on his citizenship status. Just being a “Citizen” is not enough to be President. I have no doubt, and I’m sure the Supreme Court concurs, that Obama is a United States citizen.
But the Constitution draws a direct distinction between “Citizens” and “Natural Born Citizens”. Citizens may be Senators and Representatives, but it takes something else to be President. So, your headline is wrong as well as your story.
If you would like to respond to this letter, which I have just published in my blog about the case, feel free to do so and I will publish your response as is.
My blog URL is http://naturalborncitizen.wordpress.com
Yesterday, a reporter from the Kansas City Star wrote an equally misleading report about my case. After readers of this blog confronted him, he had the decency to call me and apologize for the wrong treatment my case received in his report. We struck up a good conversation and I gave him proper respect for his admission. I am here to talk any time you like. I understand the concepts are technical and non-lawyers have problems with them.
Regards,
Leo C. Donofrio
Words will not do justice to how appauled I am to see the lack of seriousness that America and especially our Justice system is taking on the matter if this Obama is even a legal candidate to run for the Presidency of The United States highest office. What can an average citizen do to stop this before that animal takes residency in our Whits House?
I am in bewilderment how the Republican side especially the Bush Camp is giving all the appearance in the world to just allow him and welcome him with open arms.
Several of the people I know are convinces that President Elect Obama is a fraud and was born in Kenya. I don’t believe it and think it’s trunped up nonsense. But My Mother always told me that where’s there’s somke there’s Firel How can I be sure that these allegations are false?
You guys have really nothing better to do than insult your President Elect. Give it up, the American citizens have spoken, and thank God they have spoken wisely this time. Have you watched his speeches and listened to what he says? Have you listened to the way he speaks. He is eloquent and intelligent. This man is going to run your country, so stop being so racist. America needs a change, and if you don’t like it.. well that is too bad. Geez get a life and stop messing around with this man’s reputation.
Whether you are a Rep. or Dem. you should want the person you elect to be president to be qualified. This person has spent over $800,000 defending this when all he had to do is show his long form birth certificate. He could prove he didn’t have a British citizenship, he could get his family to deny he was not born in Kenya as they all state. If the man lies now what will he do in office. I love this country with all its faults but this man should live by the rules and if he is PROVE IT.
This response is directed to “Lindsey on December 13th 2008, 11:23 pm”. You are blind, you can not see how Barack is inexperienced and is unqualified. He has been in the Senate for 143 days and a Community organizer (whatever that is?) And that makes him qualified. If you really want to know the truth, you need to see some of the things on Youtube. You need to open your eyes. You have no idea what he will do to America, the greatest nation of the world. You are right about his motto “Change we can” he will see change, but it is the change you will not like. You will regret your vote. Mark my words!!!
The only to stop Obama from moveing into the White House is to get the ELECTORIAL COLLEGE TO DEMAND THAT HE PRODUCE A ORIG. BIRTH CERTIFICATE AND NOT THE ONE POSTED ON THE NET.
AOL POLL today 12-18-08 was questioning his birth and if he is in fact a natural born citizen of the UNITIED STATES.
EVERYBODY SHOULD CONTACT THE ELECTORIAL BODY IN YOUR STATE AND PUT PRESURE ON THEM TO DEMAND A ORIG. BIRTH CERTIFICATE, THEY CAN PUT A COMPLETE STOP ON THE WHOLE PROCESS.
Me my friends and family are simply outraged that there has been so little done to try and force obama to show his original birth certificate. There HAS to be something done about this!