'Birther' challenges Obama

Concord Monitor ^ | November 18, 2011 | Matthew Spolar

[frog in a pot]

If that’s the standard that judges will apply… Which is why litigators often go forum shopping.

BZ, you sounded a bit weary last night in the rest of your #33. If so, we all recognize that for the past several years you are one of a handful that have stepped away from their keyboards and actually expended substantial time and effort in the public arena on this issue.

Many of us who have made but a fraction of your efforts are in a state of disbelief or are numb. This is much more than an adult version of “there-is-a-monster-in-my-closet” and any who think otherwise are naïve.

To reiterate the bad news:
Orly was perfunctorily dismissed by the SOS and its political stepchild commission. It was the senior assistant AG at the meeting that essentially muzzled the Commission, so there is a basis for concluding the AG’s office will be of no future help. Under this view, if politics are at work, there is no practical local enforcement mechanism and Orly can be criticized for not making that calculation prior to paying the airfare to NH.

The good news:
There remain a lot of possibilities. As a GregNH link tells us, the NH legislature enacted two very important election code modifications as recently as July, 2010.

First, presidential candidates are now required to swear an oath of eligibility under “penalties of perjury” (most likely a felony). That requirement stands out because it is presently the only declaration by any NH candidate at any level required to be so sworn - and it was not required in 2008

Second, the declaration to be sworn by presidential candidates now refers to Art II of the U.S. Constitution and sets out the NBC language therein – which it did not in 2008.
(Admittedly, the legislative effort to require presidential candidates to submit a BC with the declaration failed to get out of committee, but that may have been a tactical decision - e.g., the AG rather than the SOS is the office best prepared to test the authenticity of legal documents at trial if necessary).

Thus, perhaps as a result of the 2008 election, it appears the NH legislature has recognized the importance of presenting a valid presidential ballot to its citizens. There is the possibility the AG’s office desires to gain control of the issue and that it, or perhaps a state court will honor the legislature’s intent.

Just as NH easily recognized a candidate who was born in Egypt is ineligible, it ought to recognize at some level that there is something patently suspicious about a candidate who has plastered fabricated BC’s all over the internet but who at the same time strenuously and successfully resists submitting a BC to a court of law for examination.

It also seems possible that Orly, who appears willing to learn the expensive and hard way how to become a litigator, has ignited a flame that will spread spontaneously across NH. It will not be surprising to see local patriots pick up the baton and go forward. If so, whether she is present or not, Orly will have earned our gratitude.