Judge Clay Land today granted Birther attorney Orly Taitz’s motion to withdraw as counsel for her ex-client, but said he was not authorizing any breach of attorney-client privilege, and reminded her that she still must respond to his threat of sanctions for frivolous filings.
Land, of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia, writes in the order today:
The Court further notes that this order shall not be construed to authorize Plaintiff’s counsel to breach any attorney-client privilege that may exist due to counsel’s representation of Plaintiff. Moreover, the Court notifies counsel that in issuing its show cause sanctions order, the Court did not rely upon the letter sent by Plaintiff purporting to discharge counsel (Doc. 18), nor does the Court intend to rely upon that document in future proceedings regarding sanctions against Plaintiff’s counsel. Whether Plaintiff expressly authorized counsel to file the motion for reconsideration is irrelevant to the Court’s determination of whether the filing was legally frivolous.
The letter he references was a message to the court from Taitz’s ex-client, Army Capt. Connie Rhodes, that denounces Taitz and disowns an emergency motion she filed. Read Land’s whole order here.
Taitz asked over the weekend that she be allowed to divulge “privileged attorney-client communications” as part of her defense against a $10,000 fine the judge has threatened for frivolous filings.
In his new order, Land does not address Taitz’s suggestion that she will try to call witnesses to defend herself against sanction. Tatiz has until October 2 to respond to the judge’s threat.