Orly Taitz must like the abuse.
Sometime between being thoroughly smacked down by a federal judge and threatened with sanctions Wednesday, then denouncing said judge to TPM as a corrupt puppet, then having a formal complaint filed against her by a fellow member of the California bar for her comments, self-appointed Birther leader Taitz filed a motion in the U.S. District Court of the Middle District of Georgia challenging the judge's order tossing her most recent case.
Now, the judge is threatening her with a fine to the tune of $10,000.
Taitz's motion, filed Thursday, is an "emergency request for stay of deployment," pending a motion for a rehearing, for Taitz's client, Army Capt. Connie Rhodes, who argues she doesn't have to follow orders because Barack Obama is not legitimately president. (Read her full motion here.)
Judge Clay Land -- who on Wednesday penned the scathing and widely-praised 14-page order denouncing Taitz and Birtherism and warning her against further frivolous suits -- was not pleased.
As he puts it in his latest colorful order, denying Taitz's motion: "It was deja vu all over again.[Attributed to New York Yankees baseball legend and philosopher, Yogi Berra.]"
He continues:
Instead of seriously addressing the substance of the Court's order, counsel repeats her political diatribe against the President, complains that she did not have time to address dismissal of the action (although she sought expedited consideration), accuses the undersigned of treason, and maintains that "the United States District Courts in the 11th Circuit are subject to political pressure, external control, and . . . subservience to the same illegitimate chain of command which Plaintiff has previously protested."
We count nine uses of "frivolous" in the seven-page document.
Land gives Taitz 14 days to explain in a response why a $10,000 "sanction for misconduct" should not be imposed.
Finally, he informs Taitz she is perfectly free to engage in Birther agitation on her blog:
Although the First Amendment may allow Plaintiff's counsel to make these wild accusations on her blog or in her press conferences, the federal courts are reserved for hearing genuine legal disputes and not as a platform for political rhetoric that is disconnected from any legitimate legal cause of action.
Read the full order here.

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greylox
September 18, 2009 4:51 PM
**Crazy lady gonna get crazier. Just watch.
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tonigo
September 18, 2009 6:20 PM in reply to greylox
Orly?
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LarsThorwald
September 18, 2009 8:25 PM in reply to greylox
Oh, children, children, it is only going to get better.
Any reasonably sane attorney -- that is, any attorney who realizes that his or her conduct has just crossed the line -- will come into court and show respect that would make a Bishop blush with embarrassment.
Example: About ten years ago I was in a federal court, and a motion went against my opponent, a solo practitioner whose reputation in the community was, shall we say, less than stellar. This guy once reached into a jacket pocket during the cross examination of his witness and -- I swear to God I am not making this up -- pulled out a Dorito and ate it in open court. The judge admonished him.
So this same lawyer loses a small, fairly not significant discovery motion, and when the judge issues his ruling from the bench, I said, "Thank you, your honor." My opponent said, "Thank you your honor," and then proceeded to turn around and, while shoving his briefs into his briefcase uttered, "Idiot."
Needless to say, I was shocked. My opponent left the courtroom while I was still packing up, and I looked ay the judge, who apparently didn't hear it. The Marshal, however, who was sorting standing a few feet away, and who was mildly shocked as well, looked at me and asked, "Did he just say what I thought he said?" To which I responded. I think so.
The Marshal paused for a moment, considering, and then went to the bench and informed the judge. The judge said, somewhat loudly, "He said what?" I heard the Marshal say, 'I think he called you an idiot." The judge ordered him to go fetch my opponent, but he was gone.
The judge issued a very similar show cause order as this one. Ordering both counsel to appear at the end of the week.
We did, and I have never seen anyone as contrite as this attorney. He said -- and this is a poor defense, but I'll give him points for creativity -- that he was calling himself an idiot, something no one believed. But this attorney, this awful lawyer, well, he started crying in court. He was that ashamed.
Orly Taitz is incapable of shame.
I will read with delicious interest what she files. If she believes what she spouts on TV, she will take a stand and call the judge a puppet.
To his face.
If, however, she is sane, she will show contrition.
To summarize: If she's sane, she will be contrite. If, however, she is insane, she will keep it up.
Anyone want to place a bet which side of the line she falls on?
And anyone want to bet if her client will fire her between now and then?
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Beetlejuice
September 18, 2009 10:17 PM in reply to LarsThorwald
I have a side bet ... she still thinks she's in Russia.
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msirt
September 19, 2009 12:58 AM in reply to LarsThorwald
... if she's sane she'll be contrite, otherwise she's insane?"
Nah, she'd be contrite if she was serious about practicing law and was most concerned with her law career, and if so, anything but contrition would be of questionable sanity.
But her law practice is not her primary focus, it's her political agenda that moves her, so if there's any insanity there, its the social-cultural one that she is wasting the court's time with. I am loth to characterize it as HER insanity, beyond it being the INSANE agenda she identifies with.
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msirt
September 19, 2009 1:11 AM in reply to msirt
In fact, she's not even interested in winning the case. The courtroom is her soap box, and look at all the publicity she's getting out of it. No, she's not insane or sick. I like to think of her as a cold, calculating evil piece of garbage and insane, yes, if that is what cold calculating evil pieces of garbage are.
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tiowally
September 19, 2009 5:09 PM in reply to LarsThorwald
In the past whenever I needed a competent attorney I would first ask how many DoritosĀ® he had in his pocket. Evidently that was not a good idea. Now I guess I'm back to asking how many cans of Cheez Whiz he has in his pants.
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The Commenter Formerly Known as NCSteve
September 18, 2009 5:11 PM
God. It's like watching a slow-motion train wreck.
At this point, her only hope is a crazy birther drivel-free response displaying abject contrition and appealing for mercy.
There's absolutely zero chance she'll do that. And zero chance her response is going to do anything but make things even worse for her. When the sanctions come, I can see only two possible endings for this drama: either the other birthers will pass the crazyhat and pay her sanctions for her or she refuses and eventually ends up disbarred and in jail for contempt.
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Xantar
September 18, 2009 5:26 PM in reply to The Commenter Formerly Known as NCSteve
Hey Commenter Formerly, did you ever read about the disbarment of Jack Thompson? That's what this lady is starting to remind me of. The difference is that Thompson graduated from Duke University Law School (an accredited institution and very good one at that) and it was clear to me that on some level Thompson wanted to actually hold onto his license. I'm not sure that Orly Taitz even cares if she gets disbarred at this point.
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The Commenter Formerly Known as NCSteve
September 18, 2009 7:12 PM in reply to Xantar
How can you possibly expect me to respond to a post in which you refer to the University of New Jersey at Durham as "a very good school?" I'm a Kentucky boy who went to Carolina. I just can't do it.
But, actually, Thompson went to Vandy, a quite decent school, but not in the same league as that other place you just mentioned.
Truth is, every state's bar has a few people like Thompson and Taitz rattling around in it, cranks and kooks who somehow passed law school and a bar exam and yet seem to have lost every iota of professional competence they ever had at the same time they lost the rest of their marbles. They spin off into conservative fantasyland and then everything they do for the deluded saps they find to represents a catastrophic act of malpractice. It's a pathetic spectacle watching them set course into the sun and lock down the controls. They clearly need help, but no one can force it on them if they're not a danger to themselves or others, and you have to wait until they flame out to pull their license.
Back during the 90s, these people made a terrible nuisance of themselves abetting the Militia nuts. There were a whole series of bizarre pleadings alleging bizarre legal theories that popped up on the Internet that looked just authentic enough to survive the cursory examination given to it by the clerk of court and once they were on the docket they had to be dealt with. Stuff like rambling claims that the Sixthteenth Amendment was never properly ratified so they don't have to pay taxes and, my personal favorite, arguments that orders (and, in particular, orders like the one the judge hit Taitz with today) are null and void because they were issued under "a yellow fringed flag." (The theory was that a flag with yellow fringe was not the official flag of the United States and thus, any order issued from a court that had one was null and void and--this went over great with judges--the judge presiding had committed "constructive treason.")
These people are are a source of constant irritation to judges, federal judges in particular, who have enough crazy on their plate due to pro se prisoner litigation without getting extra helpings from lawyers who've slipped a gear.
I've noticed that Republican judges in particular seem to have absolutely no patience for their antics.
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AJM
September 18, 2009 7:37 PM in reply to The Commenter Formerly Known as NCSteve
Um, same virus seems to have hit OLC during the W. Bush years.
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Richardxx
September 18, 2009 7:49 PM in reply to The Commenter Formerly Known as NCSteve
I guess that's when they join the Federalist Society.
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msirt
September 19, 2009 12:52 AM in reply to The Commenter Formerly Known as NCSteve
"... if she's sane she'll be contrite, otherwise she's insane?"
Nah, she'd be contrite if she was serious about practicing law and was most concerned with her law career, and if so, anything but contrition would be of questionable sanity.
But her law practice is not her primary focus, it's her political agenda that moves her, so if there's any insanity there, its the social-cultural one that she is wasting the court's time with. I am loth to characterize it as HER insanity, beyond it being the INSANE agenda she identifies with.
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msirt
September 19, 2009 12:58 AM in reply to msirt
This comment meant as reply to Larsthorwald, above
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JNagarya
September 19, 2009 1:12 PM in reply to The Commenter Formerly Known as NCSteve
I can't decide which is my favorite:
"The Missing Thirteenth Amendment". (Do I remember correctly? Was it the "Thirteeneth"?)
"The Fed Zone".
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Richardxx
September 18, 2009 7:45 PM in reply to Xantar
Can her citizenship be pulled so that she can be deported back to Moldova?
Besides going after her law license and possibly her citizenship, her fitness to be a dentist should also be questioned. Can an insane person hold a dental license in California? Apparently she can hold a law license in California.
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boo_lala
September 18, 2009 8:30 PM in reply to Richardxx
I really believe that, just as the most rabid anti-homosexual and anti-fornication rightwingers always seem to end up getting caught with a male prostitute, the most frothing anti-immigration loons probably have some immigration irregularity in their closets. I would not be at all surprised if Orly or her husband, both immigrants, lied on their immigration application. Or maybe one of their children turned eighteen before the application went through and is therefore not legal. I don't know if she'll ever be caught out in whatever dark secret it is, because no one has made it his life's mission to harrass her, but I have no doubt it's there. Same with Tom Tancredo (his parents were both immigrants) and Lou Dobbs (his wife is an immigrant, I think).
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Larry Geater
September 18, 2009 5:27 PM in reply to The Commenter Formerly Known as NCSteve
I think she is trying to get thrown in jail for contempt. If not she is doing a damn fine imitation of a person trying to get thrown in jail. It would just re-enforce her persecution complex and make her a hero among the birthers.
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JNagarya
September 18, 2009 6:28 PM in reply to The Commenter Formerly Known as NCSteve
"It's like watching a slow-motion train wreck."
It's like watching a slow-motion train wreck on a loop -- over and over and over and over and over again.
I'll bet she has a secret plan:
She wants to be granted Three Hots-and-a-Cot Welfare.
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SqueakyRat
September 18, 2009 6:36 PM in reply to The Commenter Formerly Known as NCSteve
It's nowhere near as much fun as watching a slow-motion train wreck. More like watching someone's hat get blown off in a high wind.
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BlueBear
September 18, 2009 6:43 PM in reply to The Commenter Formerly Known as NCSteve
NC Steve is exactly right. She will be sanctioned and never pay. She will claim that the Court is illegitimate for some perceived violation and that she need not comply with any order from the court. The judge does not seem to be taking her attacks lightly, and I do not see him backing down. I say no more than 50 days from now until the arrest warrant issues. Hopefully the CA bar will take aware her license while she is protesting from jail in Georgia, and we will never again have to hear her described as an attorney.
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Richardxx
September 18, 2009 7:53 PM in reply to BlueBear
When they pull her law license, can they also pull her real estate and dental licenses because she has demonstrated unfitness to act professionally or ethically or some similar charge? It would seem likely to me that such action could easily be taken.
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msirt
September 19, 2009 12:54 AM in reply to The Commenter Formerly Known as NCSteve
Ooops, the above reply intended for larsthon, above.
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apodaca
September 18, 2009 5:42 PM
What's that phrase that describes this in fantasy wargaming terms? Ah, yes: "Meddle not in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup."
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freivogel
September 18, 2009 5:54 PM
Um, somewhere in her thick accent I heard something about people needing to be born here or something like that.
Anyhow, I don't need the lady from the Pulp album cover meddlin' with the court system for which I pay and she likely does not.
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mikedrevguy
September 18, 2009 5:56 PM
the image I have is of of a young pre-teen adolescent asserting "You can't make me!!" to her parent as she holds her breath. Oh so mature - eventually, she will pass out - and then regain consciousness with nothing truly having changed.
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Partisancheese
September 18, 2009 6:18 PM
This woman truly is crazy. It reminds me of a man in my neighborhood--if there is something utterly unintelligent and ineffective that can be done, he will do it. That pretty much sums up Taitz. Can someone just hurry up and disbar her already?
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Californian
September 18, 2009 6:23 PM
The news coverage should add that this Judge, Clay Land, was appointed by George W. Bush in 2001. Here's his official bio on the government site:
http://www.fjc.gov/servlet/tGetInfo?jid=2911
Taitz accuses this judge of "treason," as he himself notes in his opinion.
As a life-long Democrat and an Obama supporter, I confess that I'm relieved to learn that this judge was appointed by a Republican president.
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punkassjim
September 18, 2009 6:37 PM
Justin, while I appreciate the entirety of your post, I do take issue with this one phrase: "ā¦self-appointed Birther leader Taitzā¦"
She may indeed have envisioned herself a leader, but it's MSNBC, Fox News, and every other news agency who has put her front and center. Sure, I was glad to see Dylan Ratigan verbally smack her around a bit today, but the truth is he should never have needed to, because nobody should have ever put that lunatic on television, or in print. Threatening her with taking away her media coverage seems a really empty threat, since they should never have given it in the first place.
What would Walter Cronkite do?
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Justin Elliott
September 19, 2009 11:43 AM in reply to punkassjim
valid point ... i'd say she appointed herself the leader and the media accepted her as such
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bill57
September 19, 2009 1:04 PM in reply to punkassjim
No kidding punkassi. Now we see todayās media giving voice (power/legitimacy) to people that media of days past wouldn't have even given a moments thought. It's just a matter of when not if that, we will see the insane babblers who sit all day on the same bus stop bench being given the same weight as honored experts. Now thatās truly fair and balanced, offering both sides to the extreme. Logic vs. illogical and BINGO this results in balanced truth.
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Dogger
September 18, 2009 6:45 PM
Note to self: once you publicly accuse a federal judge of treason, do NOT file papers that give him a venue for venting his anger upon you.
I doubt Tats will relent until the judge is forced to jail her for contempt. My regret is that he restrained himself from considering jail time at this initial contempt proceeding.
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ohyeathatsright
September 18, 2009 6:54 PM
Capt. Rhodes should be subject to court-martial. This is insubordination at its worst. Why is no one talking about this?
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The Commenter Formerly Known as NCSteve
September 18, 2009 7:18 PM in reply to ohyeathatsright
Oh, she'll get hers. She's pushing all the buttons that set off career Army officers. Cowardice, AWOL, legalistic flim-flam to escape duty, gross disrespect for civilian authority, insubordination. She could pee on a flag and not make 'em any madder.
But I doubt they're going to file charges until after she's done her tour.
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Minne sconsin
September 18, 2009 8:47 PM
I'll take $50 on "insane" to win.
As for her client firing her... her client never hired her!
See this letter to the judge, where the Captain in question states that:
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Schmed
September 18, 2009 8:53 PM in reply to Minne sconsin
Would love to see the link for that letter!
Also, one man's crazy is another man's fanatical devotion. Either way, she's goin' down for the cause. I hope she has friends with deep pockets since I don't see Land being very lenient with her.
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msirt
September 19, 2009 12:33 AM in reply to Schmed
Here ya go:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/19905657/RHODES-v-MacDONALD-18-Letter-regarding-from-plaintiff-regarding-withdrawal-of-motion-to-stay-Govuscourtsgamd77605180
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lousgirl84
September 21, 2009 10:37 AM in reply to Schmed
She probably has plenty of money or someone with money is backing her. Maybe even AIPAC.
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DaddyD
September 19, 2009 12:33 AM
Crazy.
Or, crazy like a fox...
with rabies?
I thought I noticed a little spittle forming.
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waldem
September 19, 2009 1:20 AM
Has anyone checked to see if Ms. Taitz is truly a U.S. citizen? She could not have passed the INS test showing a knowledge of U.S. government.
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msirt
September 19, 2009 1:49 AM
It's not a threat, It's a trap. It's a "show cause" order as to why she should not be fined. Probably she won't eat crow and apologize and the judge probably knows that. She spouts the the same BS before the bar in her "show cause" appearance and bingo, contempt of court. Jail time and big bucko's.
Ka-ching!
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Delores
September 19, 2009 6:57 AM
Follow the money.
Who is funding this woman?
She could be just an attention seeker and hoping to land a spot on Dancing w/ The Stars or get her own talk show on Fox News, and maybe she has her own money, but I am interested if anyone has looked into who is paying her bills for all of this. I doubt it is the client.
Can anyone tell me if there have been any stories looking into this at all?
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BrianSkuse
September 19, 2009 1:04 PM in reply to Delores
Absolutely Correct !
I say find out who are funding her antics and expose them.
The funding is bound to be from one of the Usual Suspects, having been laundered through a tax-free 'institute'.
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JNagarya
September 19, 2009 1:20 PM in reply to BrianSkuse
You mean, of course, a far-right lunatic fringe "think" tank?
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neesy08
September 19, 2009 5:36 PM
Is she a genuine lawyer?
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PushMe-PullYou
September 19, 2009 6:29 PM
As of this comment, not a single tro//. Amazing!
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chard
September 19, 2009 8:39 PM in reply to PushMe-PullYou
I guess that's the true measure of how batshit crazy/cunningly calculated Orly Taitz Esq. really is.
Not even TPM trolls will defend her.
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efgoldman
September 19, 2009 10:44 PM
Someone said upthread that she is the latest of the "government is not legitimate and can't compel me to do anything and all you judges are commies/nazis in black robes and I'm going to hold my breath until I turn purple and... and..."
For an earlier and just-as-crazy example, google Anthony Martin-Trigona, who is now the wingut Andy Martin.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Martin_%28U.S._politician%29
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Hidden Oak
September 20, 2009 10:37 AM
10K is a drop in the bucket to the slugs who will pay to keep her in the news. She's going to martyr herself for the "birfers".
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Leftflank
September 20, 2009 7:20 PM
As of this comment, not one Oily Taint reference, also amazing.
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barnacle
September 21, 2009 11:08 AM
I think Orly and the judge are locked in a sadomasochistic dance which only she enjoys.
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Johnsnottoodistracted
September 21, 2009 11:16 AM
Can you imagin what this must be like for her?
She can't possible be coming up with all this by herself.
Now got her own reality show all the time.
"Who has the farthest-out ideas and acts them out in public daily to be in the news"
You know she's making some bucks on this run!
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