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TGIS: Thank God It's Schadenfreude! (241)

This week's joy in the misfortune of others comes courtesy of the ABA Journal (from Tuesday, October 13; link good at time of posting):

A Georgia federal judge has fined California lawyer Orly Taitz $20,000 for her litigation tactics in a suit questioning whether Barack Obama is a U.S. citizen.

U.S. District Judge Clay Land said he had no reservations about sanctioning Taitz, the Cincinnati Ledger-Enquirer reports. ?A clearer case could not exist; a weaker message would not suffice.?

....

?The absolute absence of any legitimate legal argument, combined with the political diatribe in her motions, demonstrates that Ms. Taitz?s purpose is to advance a political agenda and not to pursue a legitimate legal cause of action,? Land said. ?Rather than citing to binding legal precedent, she calls the president names, accuses the undersigned of treason, and gratuitously slanders the president?s father....

?Counsel?s wild accusations may be protected by the First Amendment when she makes them on her blog or in her press conferences, but the federal courts are reserved for hearing genuine legal disputes, not as a platform for political rhetoric and personal insults.?

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Full post as published by Infamy or Praise on October 16, 2009 (boomark / email).