BY LINDA BENTLEY | FEBRUARY 1, 2012
Obama shows contempt for judicial process
While awaiting Malihi’s ruling, Irion stated, ‘The world should be holding its breath.’
ATLANTA – Last Thursday marked an interesting day in history; one in which three attorneys Van Irion, Mark Hatfield (r), who is also a Republican Georgia State Representative, and Dr. Orly Taitz presented their cases before Georgia Administrative Law Judge Michael Malihi regarding Barack Obama’s constitutional ineligibility and their respective requests to have him stricken from the Georgia primary ballot.
In fact, after a failed attempt to have the subpoena quashed, Obama’s attorney Michael Jablonski sent a letter to Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp on Jan. 25, the day before the hearing, requesting Kemp withdraw the hearing request.
Jablonski claimed the challenges to Obama’s eligibility to hold the office of president or run for reelection were based “on the now wholly discredited theory that he does not meet the citizenship requirements.”
He wrote, “As you know, such allegations have been the number of numerous judicial proceedings around the country, all of which have concluded that they were baseless …”
In reality, no cases have been heard on the merits until last Thursday in Malihi’s court.
And, while Jablonski argued, “It is well established that there is no legitimate issue here – a conclusion validated time and time again by courts around the country,” there has never been a single court that has addressed the merits.
Jablonski asserted Malihi “has exercised no control whatsoever over this proceeding and it threatens to degenerate into a pure forum for political posturing to the detriment of the reputation of the state and your office.”
Claiming Kemp, as secretary of state, had no authority to determine the qualifications of someone named by a political party to be on the Presidential Preference Primary ballot, Jablonski stated Kemp also had no authority to hold hearings on qualifications.
Jablonski concluded his letter with, “We await your taking the requested action, and as we do, we will, of course, suspend further participation in these proceedings, including the hearing scheduled for Jan. 26.”
It didn’t take too long for Kemp to fire back with a response that evening.
He wrote, “While I regret that you do not feel that the proceedings are appropriate, my referral of this matter to an administrative law judge at OSAH (Office of State Administrative Hearings) was in keeping with Georgia law …”
Kemp stated, “To the extent a request to withdraw the case referral is procedurally available, I do not believe such a request would be judicious given the hearing is set for tomorrow morning.”
In conclusion, Kemp wrote, “In following the procedures set forth in the Georgia Election Code, I expect the administrative law judge to report his findings to me after his full consideration of the evidence and law. Upon receipt of the report, I will fully and fairly review the entire record and initial decision of the administrative law judge. Anything you and your client place in the record in response to the challenge will be beneficial to my review of the initial decision; however, if you and your client choose to suspend your participation in the OSAH proceedings, please understand that you do so at your own peril.”
At 9 a.m. on Jan. 26, Malihi met with the three attorneys in chambers. Twenty minutes later, when it became apparent neither Obama nor Jablonski planned to participate, Malihi said he could enter a default judgment against Obama, or, in the alternative, the attorneys could present their arguments and evidence in a streamlined hearing.
The attorneys opted to present their cases on the merits.
The hearing began with Irion, who simply argued because Obama’s father was born in Kenya and was never a U.S. citizen, as evidenced by Obama’s purported birth certificate and passages from his book, “Dreams from My Father,” he cannot be a natural born citizen, as required for the office of president.
Irion cited the 1875 U.S. Supreme Court opinion: Minor v. Happersett, in which the court defined natural born citizen as a person born in the country to parents who are citizens, differentiating natural born citizenship from other forms of citizenship.
Hatfield also argued Obama did not meet the natural born citizenship requirement, entering into evidence both the Democratic National Committee and Republican National Committee’s Official Certificate of Nomination for 2008, pointing out the RNC document contains language stating the candidate is constitutionally qualified, while the nomination certificate presented by the DNC contains no such language.
Taitz had expert witnesses testify as to Obama’s fraudulent use of a Connecticut-issued Social Security number, the birth certificate he presented was fraudulently created along with other anomalies surrounding Obama, including pictures of Obama in the third grade in Indonesia and attending third grade in Hawaii during the same time period.
She also noted Obama used other names, for example: Barry Soetoro, as he was registered in school in Indonesia, and Soebarkah, which was on his mother’s passport application, while on his Illinois law license application, Obama stated he has never used any other names.
Following all the testimony, which took approximately two hours, Malihi gave the attorneys until Feb. 2 to submit supplemental briefs.
There was also an indication Malihi plans to issue his findings to Kemp that same day.
The day after the hearing, Irion stated, “One of my earliest childhood memories is of my parents talking about Nixon and the Watergate scandal. I remember the newspaper headline: ‘Nixon Resigns!’ President Nixon’s fight against court subpoenas made international news. Yesterday, President Obama completely ignored a court subpoena, and the world shrugged.
“Obama’s behavior yesterday is even more disturbing than Nixon’s. Nixon at least respected the judicial branch enough to have his attorneys show up in court and follow procedure … Nixon acknowledged the authority of the judicial branch even while he fought it. Obama, on the other hand, essentially said yesterday that the judicial branch has no power over him … Rather than respecting the legal process, Obama went around the courts and tried to put political pressure directly on the Georgia Secretary of State. When that failed, he simply ignored the judicial branch completely.”
Irion said the rule of law and our three-branch system of government “now hang in the balance.”
If the Georgia court issues a ruling on the merits and an order finding Obama in contempt of court – an order that actually results in punishment of some kind, Irion said, “then we will still have a Constitutional Republic.”
He concluded, “If this doesn’t happen, then Obama will have been rewarded for showing complete contempt for the judicial branch.”
Irion speculates Obama was anticipating a default judgment rather than a ruling on the merits, which would have allowed him to, once again, avoid the constitutional eligibility question. He could then appeal the default judgment, get the appellate court to suspend the default judgment pending appeal and then delay the appeal until after the primary.
Irion urged citizens to tell everyone they know about Obama’s contempt of the judicial branch and explain what it means.
He said, “Even those that agree with Obama politically and disagree with our ballot challenge should be shocked, appalled and scared of Obama’s contempt for the judicial system.”
While awaiting Malihi’s ruling, Irion stated, “The world should be holding its breath.”
