District Judge Clay D. Land Issues Sanction in 43-Page Opinion.
Mission Viejo attorney/dentist Orly Taitz—who heads the "birther" movement (trying to oust President Obama from the presidency based on the allegation that he did failed to produce a satisfactory birth certificate)—has been in the news frequently for her filing of federal court actions on the "birther" issue. She now is in the news based on a sanctions order assessed against her by U.S. District Judge Clay D. Land of the Middle District of Georgia.
District Judge Land found that certain of her actions in Rhodes v. Macdonald, Case No. 4: 09-CV-106 (CDL) (M.D.Ga.) were sanctionable under Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, rule 11. He imposed sanctions of $20,000 on Ms. Taitz, payable to the Georgia district court clerk. The opinion does have a scholarly review of Rule 11 and the sua sponte authority that it gives to district judges to impose sanctions under the right circumstances.
A full copy of the District Judge Land's opinion can be found at an October 14, 2009 post of the Mountain Sage Blog. For more details on this sanctions order and Ms. Taitz's efforts before U.S. District Judge David O. Carter in the local Santa Ana federal court on the "birther" issue, see Martin Wisckol's article "Court fines 'birther' $20,000" in the October 19, 2009 edition of The Orange County Register.
BONUS. From Slate.com, August 3, 2009, The Explainer:
Obama is not the first to face these allegations. President Chester Arthur endured years of unsubstantiated rumors that he was born on the wrong side of the Vermont-Canada border. Some opponents questioned Herbert Hoover's eligibility as well. Hoover met the Constitutional requirement of having been a resident within the United States for 14 years, but those years were not consecutive, and the Founding Fathers weren't clear on whether the distinction matters. Neither case made it to court.
