Obama Citizenship

Federal Judge Denies Citizen Grand Jury Presentment Filing

By Phil

In a recent article, I reported that a number of concerned citizens had visited the USDC for DC and submitted a citizen grand jury presentment to Chief Justice Royce Lamberth in hopes that he would issue a response to the paperwork. His order was made July 2, 2009 (h/t TheJAGHunter):

cgj-07022009-order

Quotes relevant to the citizen grand jury movement, going forward, include the following:

…And although presentments are constitutionally permitted, there is no authority under the Rules of Criminal Procedure or in the statutes of the United States for this Court to accept one. …

Furthermore, grand juries are convened by the court for the district in which they sit. … Grand jurors are also to be selected at random from a fair cross section of the district in which they are convened. … The individuals who have made this presentment were not convened by this Court to sit as a grand jury nor have they been selected at random from a fair cross section of this district. Any self-styled indictment or presentment issued by such a group has no force under the Constitution or laws of the United States. …

Further, though the papers presented to the Clerk of Court shall not be filed, they shall be assigned a miscellaneous number along with this Order for the court’s record.

My non-attorney opinion on this issue is that it was a positive learning experience, if for no other reason than to get a Court’s ruling on the matter. Obviously, while presentments are clearly constitutional, it is similarly true that an actual grand jury would have had to have been convened by a Court in a specific jurisdiction in order to be legally enforceable (most of us following this story knew that already).

However, there is nothing to stop concerned individuals from submitting paperwork far and wide to officials in all branches of government. At this stage and at the very least, the presentments are meant to raise awareness of the eligibility issue.

See the following links regarding the eligibility saga:

• Obama?s Presidential Eligibility: What You Need to Know
• Obama’s Sealed Background Documentation
• What’s the Difference Between a Birth Certification Versus a Birth Certificate?
• Obama Citizenship Facts
• The State Department and Sen. Patrick Leahy’s (D-VT) Natural Born Citizen Resolution (April 10, 2008)
• Citizen Grand Jury Updates and Eligibility Lawsuit Listing

-Phil

Full post as published by The Right Side of Life on July 07, 2009 (boomark / email).