As a practicing personal injury attorney, I can attest that truth is often stranger than fiction. A recent example is the fascinating story about the personal crusade of a California lawyer dentist determined to convince the world President Obama was born somewhere other than Hawaii. Her name is Orly Taitz, DDS, Esq. Last year year she filed a restraining order in U.S. District Court, Middle District of Georgia, to prevent her client, Capt. Connie Rhodes, a U.S. Army physician, from being deployed to Iraq. Apparently, Dr. Taitz’s argument is Obama is illegally serving as President and does not have the authority to deploy American troops.
As one might expect, Taitz’s argument was not well received by U.S. District Judge Clay Land and her case was dismissed. In response to Judge Land’s ruling Taitz publicly declared his decision “an act of treason” and filed a motion for a rehearing. Probably not a wise move. The Judge dimissed the motion and ordered Taitz to pay $20,000 in sanctions stating: “Counsel’s pattern of conduct conclusively establishes that she did not mistakenly violate a provision of law. She knowingly violated Rule 11. Her response to the Court’s show cause order is breathtaking in its arrogance and borders on delusional.”
Taitz appealed the sanctions order all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. On Monday, August 16th, the Supreme Court rejected her application without comment. Personally, I think she is lucky that she is only facing $20,000 in sanctions for her conduct in this case. If she enjoys practicing law, she would be wise to pay the fine and move on, but we shall see.
