# State judge orders Pres. Obama to appear 1/26 in person w/ birth cert. to be on Georgia ballot? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [January 22, 2012, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-judge-orders-pres-obama-to-appear-1-26-in-person-w-birth-cert-to-be-on-georgia-ballot/610275 "2012-01-22T03:33:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-judge-orders-pres-obama-to-appear-1-26-in-person-w-birth-cert-to-be-on-georgia-ballot/610275/1 "2012-01-22T03:33:39Z")
I thought we were past this. How can this craziness continue? [Georgia Judge Denies Obama’s Motion To Quash Taitz Subpoena In Ballot Eligibility Case](http://advanceindiana.blogspot.com/2012/01/georgia-judge-denies-obamas-motion-to.html) > [@](#): > > California attorney Orly Taitz has been the butt of many jokes and roundly criticized by the mainstream media for her dogged pursuit of proving that Barack Obama was never eligible to serve as president of the United States because he is not a natural born citizen. After dozens of lawsuits, Taitz finally found a judge in Georgia who is allowing one of her eligibility challenges to be heard on the merits. Judge Michael Malihi first denied a motion to dismiss Taitz’ complaint filed in Georgia challenging his right to appear on the 2012 Democratic primary ballot for the state of Georgia. Today, Judge Malihi denied a motion filed by Obama’s attorneys seeking to quash subpoenas she served on Obama to appear at a hearing on January 26, 2012 and produce original documents Taitz has asked the President to produce, including his birth certificate, social security application, aliases and school records. Here’s the text of Judge Malihi’s Order: ---
**Author:** ![shijinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-judge-orders-pres-obama-to-appear-1-26-in-person-w-birth-cert-to-be-on-georgia-ballot/610275/2 "2012-01-22T03:37:02Z")
that’s actually a name? ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-judge-orders-pres-obama-to-appear-1-26-in-person-w-birth-cert-to-be-on-georgia-ballot/610275/3 "2012-01-22T03:45:56Z")
The judge didn’t order Obama to do anything, he simply denied Obama’s motion to quash the subpoena. By my reading of the decision quoted in the article, it sounds like Obama’s counsel kinda fucked up the motion. > [@](#): > > In support of his motion, Defendant argues that “if enforced, [the subpoena] requires him to interrupt duties as President of the United States” to attend a hearing in Atlanta, Georgia. However, Defendant fails to provide any legal authority to support his motion to quash the subpoena to attend. **Defendant’s motion suggests that no President should be compelled to attend a Court hearing. This may be correct.** But Defendant has failed to enlighten the Court with any legal authority. Specifically, Defendant has failed to cite to any legal authority evidencing why his attendance is “unreasonable or oppressive, or that the testimony… [is] irrelevant, immaterial, or cumulative and unnecessary to a party’s preparation or presentation at the hearing, or that basic fairness dictates that the subpoena should not be enforced.” Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. r. 616-1-2-.19(5). > > Defendant further alludes to a defect in service of the subpoena. However, the Court’s rules provide for service of a subpoena upon a party, by serving the party’s counsel of record. Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. r. 616-1-2-.19(4). **Thus, the argument regarding service is without merit.** ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-judge-orders-pres-obama-to-appear-1-26-in-person-w-birth-cert-to-be-on-georgia-ballot/610275/4 "2012-01-22T03:57:29Z")
Our tax dollars at work. If all of Obama’s papers are in order, I think Mr. Taitz should have to pay for Obama’s travel expense. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-judge-orders-pres-obama-to-appear-1-26-in-person-w-birth-cert-to-be-on-georgia-ballot/610275/5 "2012-01-22T04:09:49Z")
Who keeps a copy of that? Can it be obtained from the SS administration? ---
**Author:** ![Foggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foggy/32/1082_2.png) [@Foggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foggy)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-judge-orders-pres-obama-to-appear-1-26-in-person-w-birth-cert-to-be-on-georgia-ballot/610275/6 "2012-01-22T04:12:05Z")
> [@](#): > > State judge orders Pres. Obama to appear 1/26 in person… I missed read that as 1/26th of Obama to appear in person. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-judge-orders-pres-obama-to-appear-1-26-in-person-w-birth-cert-to-be-on-georgia-ballot/610275/7 "2012-01-22T04:16:54Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > Who keeps a copy of that? Can it be obtained from the SS administration? It’s irrelevant. The only document that has any bearing on his eligibility for the presidency is his birth certificate. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-judge-orders-pres-obama-to-appear-1-26-in-person-w-birth-cert-to-be-on-georgia-ballot/610275/8 "2012-01-22T04:24:59Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > It’s irrelevant. The only document that has any bearing on his eligibility for the presidency is his birth certificate. I understand that. I was just pointing out that it seems like a stupid thing to ask for. Citizens who aren’t “natural born” can get an SS number, so it proves nothing. I also don’t see the point in asking about aliases. Of course, I shouldn’t expect sense from miss Taitz. ---
**Author:** ![PandaBear77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@PandaBear77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PandaBear77)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-judge-orders-pres-obama-to-appear-1-26-in-person-w-birth-cert-to-be-on-georgia-ballot/610275/9 "2012-01-22T04:25:38Z")
Kinda confused … why would Obama be on the ballot at all? He’s already President. It’s a given he’s gonna be the Dem candidate. Is anyone going to run against him for the nomination? ETA: ZOMG Orly Taitz’ name iz FULL of winz!!! Rly!! ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-judge-orders-pres-obama-to-appear-1-26-in-person-w-birth-cert-to-be-on-georgia-ballot/610275/10 "2012-01-22T04:58:26Z")
> [@PandaBear77](#): > > Kinda confused … why would Obama be on the ballot at all? He’s already President. It’s a given he’s gonna be the Dem candidate. Is anyone going to run against him for the nomination? He can’t be the Democratic candidate unless he’s nominated by the Democratic convention, and there can’t be a Democratic convention without delegates. And there is at least one person running against him (Randall Terry, an insane anti-abortion zealot), but I don’t know if he (or anybody else) made the Democratic ballot in Georgia. ---
**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-judge-orders-pres-obama-to-appear-1-26-in-person-w-birth-cert-to-be-on-georgia-ballot/610275/11 "2012-01-22T05:08:45Z")
“…produce original documents Taitz has asked the President to produce, including his birth certificate, social security application, aliases and school records.” I don’t have original copies of ANY of those things. I have a copy of my birth certificate stamped by the registrar of births, but I have no idea if it is long form or short form. I don’t even have unoriginal copies of the others. I suppose the Social Security application could be useful because it does ask for place of birth. If he wrote down “Kenya” (before he knew he would be running for president), that would be a smoking gun. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-judge-orders-pres-obama-to-appear-1-26-in-person-w-birth-cert-to-be-on-georgia-ballot/610275/12 "2012-01-22T05:11:38Z")
There are always token challengers to the incumbent in the primaries. Sometimes they even [win some](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_McCarthy). ---
**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-judge-orders-pres-obama-to-appear-1-26-in-person-w-birth-cert-to-be-on-georgia-ballot/610275/13 "2012-01-22T05:13:24Z")
> [@Lord\_Feldon](#): > > He can’t be the Democratic candidate unless he’s nominated by the Democratic convention, and there can’t be a Democratic convention without delegates. And there is at least one person running against him (Randall Terry, an insane anti-abortion zealot), but I don’t know if he (or anybody else) made the Democratic ballot in Georgia. I don’t think there’s any requirement in US law for the Democratic Party to have a convention. If the party were to amend its by-laws, I’m sure they could nominate a candidate by a vote of their ruling committee. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-judge-orders-pres-obama-to-appear-1-26-in-person-w-birth-cert-to-be-on-georgia-ballot/610275/14 "2012-01-22T05:16:18Z")
> [@Alley\_Dweller](#): > > I don’t think there’s any requirement in US law for the Democratic Party to have a convention. If the party were to amend its by-laws, I’m sure they could nominate a candidate by a vote of their ruling committee. Yeah, but by-laws get amended during the convention. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![shijinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-judge-orders-pres-obama-to-appear-1-26-in-person-w-birth-cert-to-be-on-georgia-ballot/610275/15 "2012-01-22T06:16:43Z")
the California attorney must think she have Orly Taitz case against the President to be doing this. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-judge-orders-pres-obama-to-appear-1-26-in-person-w-birth-cert-to-be-on-georgia-ballot/610275/16 "2012-01-22T08:04:05Z")
I get that he must be there for the convention, but is there any reason he needs to be on the Georgia ballot? I don’t even think Terry is running in Georgia (as he has stated that his being a candidate is just a stunt to get an antiabortion ad run during the Superbowl). But, even if he is, then, oh noes, Georgia goes to him and they get a few delegates. Obama still wins the nomination. I mean, didn’t one of the pubbies not bother running in one of the states? I don’t see why he didn’t argue that his eligibility to be president has already been decided as proved by his current status and that, even if it weren’t, it’s a federal issue, not a state one. Furthermore, since the only way this could be relevant is if he is ineligible, which would mean he defrauded the American public, I’m not sure they can’t also throw in that a sitting president cannot be tried while he is still president. They want a trial, get him impeached, first. IANAL, obviously, but there seem to be a lot of reasons to assert the sitting president should not have to bound to a subpoena over this non-issue. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-judge-orders-pres-obama-to-appear-1-26-in-person-w-birth-cert-to-be-on-georgia-ballot/610275/17 "2012-01-22T09:08:40Z")
So if I understand it correctly, it’s not “the judge has ordered Obama to appear”, but “the judge has refused to accept a motion to quash the motion to order Obama to appear, which he will eventually refuse to grant for other reasons,” right? Not that this won’t stop the birther crowd from hyping this as proof of “the Kenyan usurper’s” imminent comeuppance - for the next three or four days, at least. ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-judge-orders-pres-obama-to-appear-1-26-in-person-w-birth-cert-to-be-on-georgia-ballot/610275/18 "2012-01-22T11:57:56Z")
Egads. As a Georgian, I am embarrassed at this. How can this have gone on so long? If McCain had be elected would some weirdos be pursuing him with legal challenges about how he was born in the Canal Zone? ---
**Author:** ![What\_the](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f4b2a3/32.png) [@What\_the](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_the)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-judge-orders-pres-obama-to-appear-1-26-in-person-w-birth-cert-to-be-on-georgia-ballot/610275/19 "2012-01-22T13:50:04Z")
> [@astro](#): > > I thought we were past this. How can this craziness continue? > [Georgia Judge Denies Obama’s Motion To Quash Taitz Subpoena In Ballot Eligibility Case](http://advanceindiana.blogspot.com/2012/01/georgia-judge-denies-obamas-motion-to.html) Why does it continue? In part because Obama wants/wanted it to rather than just provide everything from the minute Hillary first mentioned it. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-judge-orders-pres-obama-to-appear-1-26-in-person-w-birth-cert-to-be-on-georgia-ballot/610275/20 "2012-01-22T15:22:10Z")
When did Hillary mention this issue? my recollection was that none of the Democratic candidates in 2008 raised it as an issue. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-judge-orders-pres-obama-to-appear-1-26-in-person-w-birth-cert-to-be-on-georgia-ballot/610275.md?page=2)