Posted on 12/09/2008 9:10:17 AM PST by ckilmer
When the Supreme Court denied cert to Leo Donofrio, most of us thought the issue of Barack Obama’s status as a citizen was put to rest. Not so fast, as Dave Weigel reluctantly notes. Justice Antonin Scalia has referred another lawsuit to conference covering much the same ground in Wrotnowski v. Bysiewicz, and the Birther movement has another brief reprieve:
Why is it that Justices Ginsburg and Souter have tossed junk lawsuits about Barack Obama’s citizenship, but Justices Thomas and now Scalia have wanted them read in conference? There have been two coherent lawsuits alleging that both Obama and McCain are ineligible for the presidency. …
What is the lesson that Scalia and Thomas are sending? Either they’ve reversed their views on standing, or they’re letting the world know that no case is too wingnutty for them not to consider. And at some point that’s doing damage to the country. Do they really want people thinking the president is illegitimate because they didn’t do like the liberal justices and reject this baseless kookery? I can’t remember, but was either Scalia or Thomas in the habit of having the court read the “Bush knocked down the twin towers!” junk lawsuits?
Indeed, as the docket report shows, Ginsburg rejected Wrotnowski two weeks ago, at least for injunctive relief. Scalia didn’t provide an injunction, but instead of following the example set by Donofrio, he referred the case to conference. That seems a little unusual, since Wrotnowski appears to plow the same ground as Donofrio, which is that Obama cannot be considered a “natural born citizen” because his father was a British subject, even though Obama was born in the US.
Hot Air readers already know our deep skepticism regarding these lawsuits. Barack Obama was born in the United States of one native-born American citizen (his mother), which should satisfy all but the bitter-enders of this election. Both Wrotnowski and Donofrio concede these points.
So why did Scalia send Wrotnowski to conference? Like Dave, I doubt that it’s to get a unanimous ruling on these challenges to Obama’s standing that will end all of the pointless legal battles. In any case, if Donofrio didn’t get four votes, there’s no reason to think that Wrotnowski will do any better — but it seems that Scalia and Thomas have made themselves the go-to guys on the court for all legal challenges to Obama’s election.
Update (AP): A commenter in Headlines speculates that they’re doing this to stop the petitioners from refiling their petitions with a new Justice every time they’re rejected by another. For instance, Souter denied Donofrio’s petition initially; Donofrio immediately refiled with Thomas, who then dumped it on the Court to be denied summarily. Wrotnowski’s petition was initially denied by Ginsburg and then refiled with Scalia, who’s now gone the same route. It may be that the liberal wing of the Court simply won’t deign to refer this matter to a full conference whereas the conservatives are willing at least to go that far in the interests of clearing the cases off the docket as fast as possible.
You said — “Sorry but I do not see any evidence for that theory.”
Come back and talk to me when the other cases get “Denied...” :-)
It’s time folks stopped treating politics like a spectator sport anyway.
You said — “That’s okay. My lib sisters think I’m that way anyway!”
There’s no question about it, with me, that I’m in the minority with family, friends, workers... No one wants to have anything to do with this one...
Apparently "most of us" have no clue what the case was about.
The amount of ignorance on this subject is breathtaking. I'm not talking about tinfoil-hat stuff, I mean just straightforward facts - like what the dismissed case was actually about (NOT the birth certificate).
Ill agree to that as long as you do the same when you find out that they will be hearing this case.
New Guinea, and Australia is where the photos of Pteros are from.
Apparently you’ve been rolling your eyes in the marble game a little too often.
You said — “It’s time folks stopped treating politics like a spectator sport anyway.”
Well..., it definitely was not “spectator sports” that produce a large margin of victory for Obama in the elections. They weren’t “spectating”.... they were actually voting...
Actually, it’s funny because my sisters are libs but most of their 30 some children are conservative.
So family dinners are fun!
I think Joseph Farah is a great publisher (of conservative media) and I’m glad he’s there. It just goes to show you that many people in FReeperville don’t like the Christian slant that he has on his media website...
Y’all check it out for lots of info about the Obama Birth Certificate...
Yeah, I’ve heard that the kids are more conservative than their parents. That’s an interesting twist to the way our culture is going...
This is getting much too reminiscent of the 2000 election.
If you accuse you must bring evidence. There is no evidence that Obama is not a natural born citizen (Supposition, rumors and hearsay are not evidence). By evidence I mean documentary evidence, which is what is required to make the case. “Grandma says” is not going to do.
“The COLB is a forgery” does not prove Obama is not a natural born citizen. Insisting that Obama produce evidence is silly and is not going to happen. Invoking an undying belief in the sanctity of the Constitution is not evidence of anything. There are conservative Constitutional law experts in this country, why are they ignoring this story? They ignore it because there is no evidence.
Insisting that showing of a birth certificate is required for various things is not evidence against Obama. I have read many stories and claims on this subject and I have yet to see any actual e-v-i-d-e-n-c-e that Obama is not a natural born citizen of the USA. Show me a document that proves Obama’s citizenship or birthplace to be a problem and I’ll be on board.
You said — “Ill agree to that as long as you do the same when you find out that they will be hearing this case.”
You’ll find no one happier than me if Obama gets disqualified. But, I don’t hold out very much hope for that (given the state of affairs that I see) — and also — I don’t hold out too much hope for something good to come of it, even if there is a hearing by the Supreme Court. So far, they’ve not shown that they’re interested in the thing...
But, as I said — we’ll see...
HAR HAR HAR HAR! Gosh you’re funny.
What is Malkin thinking here? How does she equate people who are concerned about how we determine, in today’s world of easy international travel, which of our candidates for President are truly natural born (without a clear definition of the term in today’s world) with those who think our President engineered Osama bin Laden’s attack on 9/11/01?
Im sure you will get alot of replys to your post because you dont even seem to know that the (2) cases that are being discussed before the Supreme Court do not have anything to do with the birth certificate of Obama.
You said: “There is no evidence that Obama is not a natural born citizen”
Obama has admitted he is not a natural born citizen. He admits that he was born with dual citizenship. He also will probally have to admit that he was made an Indonesian citizen as well so as to not lie to Supreme Court.
Oh! Well, anything can happen down under, mate. You don’t see kangaroos, for example, in any other part of the world...!
Do you think that’s it? Just guessing, but most FReeprs are Christian or Jewish, aren’t they? they should welcome WND.
You said this to me:
“...after you’ve eliminated all those conservative websites that know Obama is going to be the next President of the United States”
Why, in the heck, do you continue to lie and misrepresent those who are saying these things need to be vetted? It was YOU implying people like myself somehow don't “know Obama is going to be the next President of the United States.”
Please, shut up with the aspersions. You make yourself look incredibly stupid with every thread in which you say such things.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.