05-12-08 07:56 PM
CHICAGO =97 The U.S. Supreme Court will consider Friday whether to take
up a lawsuit challenging President-elect Barack Obama's U.S.
citizenship, a continuation of a New Jersey case embraced by some
opponents of Obama's election.
The meeting of justices will coincide with a vigil by the filer's
supporters in Washington on the steps of the nation's highest court.
The suit originally sought to stay the election, and was filed on
behalf of Leo Donofrio against New Jersey Secretary of State Nina
Mitchell Wells.
Legal experts say the appeal has little chance of succeeding, despite
appearing on the court's schedule. Legal records show it is only the
tip of an iceberg of nationwide efforts seeking to derail Obama's
election over accusations that he either wasn't born a U.S. citizen or
that he later renounced his citizenship in Indonesia.
The Obama campaign has maintained that he was born in Hawaii, has an
authentic birth certificate, and is a "natural-born" U.S. citizen.
Hawaiian officials agree.
Among those filing lawsuits is Alan Keyes, who lost to Obama in the
2004 Illinois Senate race. Keyes' suit seeks to halt certification of
votes in California. Another suit by a Kentucky man seeks to have a
federal judge review Obama's original birth certificate, which
Hawaiian officials say is locked in a state vault.
Other suits have been filed by Andy Martin, whose case was dismissed
in Hawaii, and by an Ohio man whose case also was dismissed. Five more
suits, all later dismissed, were filed in Hawaii by a person who is
currently suing the "Peoples Association of Human, Animals Conceived
God/s and Religions, John McCain (and) USA Govt." The plaintiff
previously sought to sue Wikipedia and "All News Media."
The most famous case questioning Obama's citizenship was filed in
Pennsylvania in August on behalf of Philip J. Berg and sought to
enjoin the Democratic National Committee from nominating Obama. The
U.S. Supreme Court declined to accept the case. Earlier, a federal
judge rejected it for "lack of standing" =97 ruling that Berg had no
legal right to sue. In cases like this, judges sometimes believe the
matter is best left to political institutions, such as the Electoral
College or Congress, said legal scholar Eugene Volokh of the
University of California at Los Angeles.
The remaining case with the highest profile is Donofrio vs. Wells.
Because it was distributed by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to
other justices for conference, it gained undue importance for people
unschooled in how the court works, Volokh said.
Many petitioners seeking stays of pending events have their cases
distributed to the full court, he said. Of those, Volokh found that
782 were denied in the last eight years while just 60 were heard =97 and
not all of those ultimately were successful. |