Obama Citizenship

Berg v. Obama: SCOTUS Denies Writ of Certiorari ?Before Judgment?

By Phil

According to today’s Orders, Berg v. Obama (Phil Berg, Plaintiff) has been denied a writ of Certiorari:

08-570 BERG, PHILIP J. V. OBAMA, BARACK, ET AL.

The motion of Bill Anderson for leave to file a brief as

amicus curiae is granted. The petition for a writ of certiorari

before judgment is denied.

Update: Fascinating comment over at InvestigatingObama on the amicus curiae briefing.

Update: The following are two very astute comments from a couple of readers of my blog. I’ll post them here instead of in the commentary section:

From “Biz:”

URGENT From Lisa regarding Today?s SCOTUS ruling

written by Linda Starr, January 12, 2009

Here is a very brief explanation of what today?s ruling means to us?

What today?s ruling means is that WE?RE STILL ALIVE in the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals. Phil filed a Petition for Writ of Cert BEFORE JUDGEMENT (in the 3rd Circuit) with SCOTUS. They denied the petition for Writ before judgement under Rule 11 because the case before the 3rd Circuit is still pending and there is still a legal remedy available to our case in the lower courts. If this case is denied at the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals, THEN Phil can once again go back to SCOTUS for remedy. The SCOTUS may yet grant the motion for emergency injunction against counting the votes for Soetoro/Obama - in effect, preventing the Inauguration on the 20th. As I understand it, then Biden would serve until this is resolved in some fashion. And Roberts COULD REFUSE to swear in Soetoro/Obama if this isn?t resolved.
If it comes to that, then Roberts could state that Barry needs to cough up the documents proving he is eligible, or he won?t be sworn in. We jsut don?t know what might happen next.

In the meantime, Bill Anderson?s motion for ?permission? to file his case as a friend of the court was granted.

WE ARE NOT DEAD YET!!!

Phil is putting together a press release to be posted today on obamacrimes.com.

I’ll certainly be watching for that follow-up presser.

From “Scott:”

I believe the phrase ?before judgment? means that the Supreme Court does not want to grant the writ before the matter is decided by the Third Circuit. Seehttp://www.anusha.com/no-cert.htm. After there is a Third Circuit opinion, and if it is unfavorable, Berg can seek another writ and Bill Anderson may file a brief as amicus curiae (his request was granted). This is the first of the Obama ineligibility cases to receive a comment from the Supreme Court, which could be seen as a positive development.

The more “official word” from Jeff:

Philip Berg’s lawsuit against Obama and the Democratic National Committee, filed on August 21, 2008 and first reported here at America’s Right, questioned Obama’s eligibility to serve under Article II, Section 1 of the United States Constitution–which requires in part that the president be a “natural born Citizen” of the United States–and was previously dismissed by the Hon. R. Barclay Surrick from District Court in Philadelphia. While the Supreme Court’s denial of Berg’s petition for certiorari today was not accompanied by explanation, the mere result shows on its face that at least six Justices agreed with Surrick’s determination that Berg lacked standing to sue. …

Berg’s case was dismissed at the district court level by Judge Surrick primarily for lack of standing, a procedural check required by the Case or Controversy Clause in Article III, Section 2 of the Constitution as an effort to foster judicial efficacy and limit access to a court of law to those plaintiffs who can show a sufficient “stake” in a particular controversy. To prove standing and thus be eligible to bring suit, a plaintiff must show (1) a particularized–rather than generalized–injury-in-fact, (2) evidence showing that that the party being sued actually caused the plaintiff?s particularized injury-in-fact, and (3) that adjudication of the matter would actually provide redress. Surrick argued that Berg had not adequately showed a particularized injury-in-fact, noting in his memorandum that “regardless of questions of causation, the grievance remains too generalized to establish the existence of an injury in fact. To reiterate: a candidate?s ineligibility under the Natural Born Citizen Clause does not result in an injury in fact to voters.” …

Though the order list released by the Supreme Court today provides no reason for its denial of certiorari, such a denial inevitably is an affirmation of the district court judge’s assertion that Berg’s claim, as a mere voter, was far too generalized to satisfy the Case and Controversy Clause of the same Constitution he was attempting to uphold. Whether or not the Justices considered the factual elements of Berg’s allegations, without insight gleaned from a rare dissent to a denial of certiorari, is indeed another question left unanswered. 

Either way, Berg says that this isn’t a fight which he’ll give up easily. This issue, he maintains, transcends politics and even transcends individual political candidates. Yes, Barack Obama is the focal point, but it’s a matter of upholding the Constitution, he says, of taking into account the intentions of America’s founders, men who at the time were still licking their wounds from bitter warfare and were understandably intensely concerned with the need for the highest office in the country to be held by someone fiercely and unequivocally loyal to the fledgling nation. It is for this reason–along, of course, with the “brazen” perpetration of what he repeatedly calls an “enormous hoax”–that Berg says he is so disappointed with the today’s news from the Supreme Court; it is for this reason, Berg says, that he wants “to continue standing firm for 320 million Americans.”

That continued fight, Berg says, involves an active case currently under seal, as well as a case filed last month on behalf of a retired Air Force colonel, both questioning Obama’s eligbility to serve as president of the United States and both centering on the documentation sought in the original action. According to Berg, the plaintiff in the latter case–Col. Gregory S. Hollister, a 20-year veteran with his own litigious history– filed suit out of concern that, should he be returned from his reserve status to active duty in this tumultuous global climate, his own Oath of Enlistment could conflict with his duty to follow lawful orders.

“If he’s reactivated, Col. Hollister comes under a duty to obey lawful orders,” Berg said. “The thing is, he’s confused because he won’t know if the orders that make their way down the chain of command have come from a Commander-in-Chief who is constitutionally eligible to serve in that position and give orders in the first place.”

The two other lawsuits, the case filed under seal citing Obama’s violations of the False Claims Act as well as the interpleader action filed on behalf of Hollister, are part of what Berg calls a “commitment to finding the truth about Obama for the sake of our Constitution and country,” an effort which started with the “hope that the Democratic Party would have done the right thing at its convention in August” and reached its peak today with news from our nation’s highest court of law.

“Today was a big setback,” Berg said, “but sooner or later, I’m confident that we can find the proper legal avenue to expose the truth about this unbelievable hoax, this circle of lies which has been thrust upon the American people. Barack Obama has lied to all of us, and he needs to be held responsible for doing so. More importantly, we all need to know that our Constitution still controls, that the president of the United States is constitutionally qualified to be there.”

Mr. Berg has another shot at Conference this Friday, where the Court will consider whether or not to (1) stay the Electoral College vote or (2) stay the certification of that vote.

More updates as time permits me to do so.

A current listing of eligibility lawsuits can be found here.

-Phil

Full post as published by The Right Side of Life on January 12, 2009 (boomark / email).