Orly Taitz And The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Year

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by Justin Elliot

When we began following Orly Taitz's Birther litigation back in September, we never thought we'd end up with her cell phone on speed dial.

Well, it turned out to be the beginning of a beautiful relationship. But the last year (OK, fine, half year) has been full of bumps and setbacks for the attorney/dentist who is the country's most prominent purveyor of the conspiracy theory that President Obama is not a natural born U.S. citizen.

Here, in chronological order, are some of the low points of Taitz's year:

• August 3: MSNBC's David Shuster calls out Taitz on live TV after she lashes out at "Obama's brownshirts" in the media. Said Shuster: "You're making a reference to Nazi Germany, and to a lot of us who lost relatives in the Holocaust, this is deeply, deeply offensive." Watch it here.
• August 6: In a sign of an intra-Birther power struggle, fellow conspiracy theorist Andy Martin publicly declares it's time to "shut down the Orly Taitz circus."
• Sept. 16: Federal Judge Clay Land, who is presiding over a Georgia Birther case, belittles Taitz in a widely circulated order that accuses Taitz of failing to understand legal principles grasped by "any middle school civics student." Land adds: "Unlike in Alice in Wonderland, simply saying something is so does not make it so."
• Sept. 17: A fellow member of the California bar files a complaint in response to Taitz's call -- during an interview with TPMmuckraker -- for Judge Land to be tried for treason.
• Sept. 21: Army Captain Connie Rhodes, Taitz's own client in the Georgia Birther case, sends a letter to the judge renouncing Taitz as her counsel. Rhodes, who sent the letter while deploying to Iraq, tells the judge that Taitz submitted an emergency filing without Rhodes' permission or blessing.
• October 13: A frustrated Land fines Taitz $20,000 for repeated frivolous filings. "When a lawyer files complaints and motions without a reasonable basis for believing that they are supported by existing law or a modification or extension of existing law, that lawyer abuses her privilege to practice law," he writes. "When a lawyer abuses her privilege to practice law, that lawyer ceases to advance her cause or the ends of justice."
• October 14: Appearing on Joy Behar's show, Taitz is forced to explain why she described the judge as "delusional":

• • November 12: An affidavit from a prospective witness in a California Birther case alleges that Taitz asked witnesses to perjure themselves -- and much worse.
  • December 3: A Taitz court filing reveals that one of her children was taunted by a teacher, who "pointed to a newspaper article and commented that the judge says 'your mother tells witnesses to lie.'"
  The Taitz saga is far from over. She has now embarked on an appeal to fight the $20,000 fine. We'll being keeping track of her filings in the new year.

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