Miscellaneous

Voters, Courts, or the Internet Rumor Mill: Decision 08

By Anne Skove, Esq.

Who's to blame when elections go awry?

We've heard grousing about Kansans and worries about voter registration fraud. There has been much serious ado from both sides about courts "voting from the bench."

Yet another possible deciding factor in this year's election: the Internet rumor mill.

In a scheme that sounds crazier than a pineapple lamp, a group of online pals have started suing Hawaii's governor and state health department director to obtain verification of Senator Obama's birth certificate. The suits claim that the senator is not a natural-born citizen and is therefore not qualified to be President of the United States.

The rumor started with a 2004 press release issued by one Andy Martin. It continued with Jerome Corsi's book, Obama Nation. (Corsi also writes online "news." See Obama's Birth Certificate Sealed by Hawaii's Governor, Jerome R. Corsi, WorldNetDaily.com (October 26, 2008.)

Even Obama's trip to Hawai'i to visit his ailing grandmother has been questioned as a cover for birth-certificate-related business. WorldNetDaily (read: Corsi) and the Pennsylvania lawsuit claim the grandmother confirmed Obama was born in Kenya.

What to make of all this from the court's perspective? Standing is the most obvious hurdle. In Pennsylvania, a federal judge tossed a case due to lack of standing.

Frivolousness is another problem. Mr. Martin (see above) is a known vexatious litigant. Courts might not have the patience, particularly if the cases pop up in jurisdiction after jurisdiction.

We also wonder what might constitute "verification" for these purposes. The Obama campaign, several media outlets, and others have come forward with copies of the birth certificate. The facsimiles produced have had the unintended consequence of furthering the rumors, who analyze the images with heat maps, overlays, etc.

A new suit has been filed in the Warren County (Ohio) Court of Common Pleas. The wording is similar to its Pennsylvania counterpart.

One thing we don't hear the concerned citizens worried about is access by everyday people to their own true birth certificates. Adopted adults have few rights when it comes to obtaining unredacted information about themselves. Back in the day, adoptees' birth certificates were sometimes altered to show a different date of birth, to throw searchers off the path. Don't expect a partnership between Infidel Blogger's Alliance and Bastard Nation any time soon.

Will this issue be the swift boat of '08? Corsi has his mitts on both movements. It is true that the rumors about Senator Obama are wild and frequent, and believed by many. Believers come in all forms, but we suspect this is yet another instance where the balance will not tip because these people are not part of the "undecided" throng. We seriously doubt that the blogger at Atlas Shrugs has an Obama pumpkin on the porch.

Born in the U.S.A., FactCheck.org (August 21, 2008); Obama's Birth Certificate: Final Chapter, Amy Hollyfield, PolitiFact.com (June 27, 2008); offer a spell of sanity.

Full post as published by court-o-rama.org on October 27, 2008 (boomark / email).