By Pat Shannan
When Georgia’s State Administrative Court opened its doors on January 3, Judge Michael Malihi’s first order of the year was to deny defendant Barack Hussein Obama’s motion to dismiss the case against him that demands the sitting president’s name be removed from the November ballot unless he can prove himself constitutionally eligible. Trial is set for January 26, 2012.
Eight plaintiffs, including five persons being represented by California’s tenacious attorney Orly Taitz, have now joined the suit, filed last year after Obama’s Certificate of Live Birth (COLB) was shown to be fraudulent. However, by that time it had been made evident that even if Obama could produce real proof that he was born in Hawaii, it would not be enough under the law, because an additional “natural born” requirement making one eligible to be president of the United States is that both parents also be U.S. citizens at the time of his birth. Barack Obama, Sr. was never a U.S. citizen.
Further evidence has since been uncovered showing Obama has used various Social Security numbers never assigned to him and that he applied for aid as a foreign college student.
Without arguing the above facts, as was also the case in the many preceding cases around the country, Obama’s legal team attempted to have the action quashed with a motion to dismiss, claiming that the code section did not apply to any candidate in a “presidential preference primary.”
The Georgia court disagreed in its four-page order denying the motion, saying, “[T]his court finds that defendant is a candidate for federal office who has been certified by the state executive committee of a political party, and therefore must, under Code Section 21-2-5, meet the constitutional and statutory qualifications for holding the office being sought.”
One of the plaintiffs, Carl Swensson of Atlanta, has been a part of this movement since retired naval officer Walt Fitzpatrick brought it to the headlines three years ago and has been in active support of both Fitzpatrick and Darren Huff by testifying at their various hearings. Both men are currently in jail—Fitzpatrick for contempt of court and Huff awaiting sentencing.
Swensson told AFP that this case, now docketed in state court in Atlanta for January 26, will be the first to be heard by any court. In the past Mrs. Taitz, attorney Leo Denofrio of New Jersey and former Pennsylvania Deputy Attorney General Philip J. Berg, as well as others, have been frustrated by the courts at various levels by their refusal to hear the matter.
Two years ago, Mrs. Taitz had her case accepted by the federal court before District Judge David Carter reversed himself, claiming the Constitution did not provide the power to the federal courts to remove a sitting president.
“But this time, we’ve got ‘em on the run,” said Swensson, pointing out that the latest suit is not directed at removing Obama from office but rather removing him from the November ballot in Georgia. Should that happen, the plaintiffs believe that many states will follow suit.
“The Georgia state court does have the power and jurisdiction to do that, and I don’t believe Judge Malihi is going to bow to federal pressure,” said Swensson.
Pat Shannan is an AFP contributing editor and the author of several best-selling videos and books.
