[Political Junkie Too]

So if you wanted to get a passport, then a copy of your embossed birth certificate is good enough? They won't ask for their own embossed copy from your state's registrar?

If a copy of an embossed document is used in a court case, doesn't anybody validate that an original embossed document exists, or do they just accept the single sided copy of the front-half of a document as being as good as the entire original document?

-PJ

[Nero Germanicus]

I used a short form, paper, abstract birth certificate with an embossed Seal from my birth county to get my first passport. Then I just used my expiring passport for all subsequent renewals.

You can get a passport without having a birth certificate.
“How to apply for a passport without a birth certificate”
http://traveltips.usatoday.com/apply-passport-birth-certificate-13275.html

As for what courts will accept, it’s up to the judge. In most states a judge can issue a court order for the production of an original birth certificate and the state will provide it; however I have never heard of a judge who wouldn’t accept a Certified Letter of Verification in lieu of receiving a certified copy, from a state Registrar.

[Fantasywriter]

“If a copy of an embossed document is used in a court case, doesn’t anybody validate that an original embossed document exists, or do they just accept the single sided copy of the front-half of a document as being as good as the entire original document?”

It depends. If you’re an average citizen, your documents have to be validated. If you’re Barack Obama anything goes.