Larry Klayman files presidential qualifications lawsuit in Florida

Tichard Winger is reporting that on March 20th, Larry Klayman filed a lawsuit in Leon County, Florida Circuit Court. The case is Voeltz v Obama. Another defendant is Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner. The lawsuit urges the state to keep Barack Obama off the November 2012 ballot on the grounds that he does not meet the constitutional qualifications.  The complaint argues that “natural-born citizen” means the child of adult U.S. citizens, and also disputes the authenticity of the long-form birth certificate Obama released last year. Here is the seven-page complaint.
 
Florida is one of the states that has a policy of not printing presidential candidates’ names on the general election ballot if the candidate does not meet the constitutional qualifications.  For example, in 2008, the Socialist Workers Party presidential candidate, Roger Calero, did not meet the constitutional qualifications.  States that nevertheless printed his name on the November 2008 ballot, or accepted him as a declared write-in candidate, are Connecticut, Delaware, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Vermont, and Washington.  The Socialist Workers Party was on the ballot in Florida in 2008 but the state would not print Calero’s name, so the SWP used a stand-in, James Harris, in Florida and certain other states.

Florida ballot challenge -- update

Rev. Sam Sewell, project manager for the Florida Ballot Challenge says I have organized my message as one would organize a worship service.

Our overall strategy could be compared to a three stage rocket.

I was thinking outside the box (dreaming). What if Obama requested exhumations of his alleged father and also Frank Davis and Malcolm X and associated DNA tests? Then there could be two chances thet he could produce a US citizen father. O tempora! O mores!

Democrat argues now is time to resolve eligibility

Bob Unruh is reporting that A Democrat who has filed a legal challenge to Barack Obama’s name on the 2012 election ballot for president in Florida says now is the time to resolve the controversy, because to wait would mean voters could be defrauded.
 
"The eligibility of defendant Obama must be dealt with now. Plaintiff Voeltz, and the rest of the electors in the state of Florida, must be assured that if they cast their votes for defendant Obama in the general election that their votes will not be in vain," explains a filing in the case brought by Larry Klayman of Freedom Watch USA on behalf of Democrat Michael Voeltz, "a registered member of the Democrat Party, voter, and taxpayer in Broward County, who was an eligible elector for the Florida Primary of Jan. 31, 2012."

[ snip ]

The latest filing came in response to Obama’s demand to the court that the case be dismissed. Among other issues, his attorneys argued that the dispute was not ready for a resolution yet since there hasn’t been a Democratic primary in the state to select a candidate.
 
That argument came even though the Democrat Party nominated only Obama, and state rules say that when that happens, that name automatically is the nominee.
 
"In Florida the voter has more rights to contest elections than in most other states," Klayman told WND. "And we have a judge who is not afraid to make hard decisions; Judge Terry Lewis. In the Gore v. Bush case he ruled on occasion in favor of Bush even though he generally leans left. I am hopeful he will do the right thing and rule that the Florida Secretary of State must verify Obama’s eligibility to be on the ballot for the Florida presidential election."
 
The issue just has too many unanswered questions to ignore, the filing explains.
 
"No physical, paper copy of defendant Obama’s birth certificate has been presented to establish his eligibility … Defendant Obama has electronically produced a copy of what he purports to be his ‘birth certificate.’ Nevertheless, there is evidence to suggest that the electronically produced birth certificate is entirely fraudulent or otherwise altered."
 
The argument also cites Barack Obama Sr.’s birth in Kenya, making him a "British subject."

"The British Nationality Act of 1948, Part 2, Section 5, Clause 1, makes Defendant Obama, the son of a British subject, also a British subject at birth. At best, defendant Obama was born a dual citizen of Britain and the United States. These facts make clear that defendant Obama was not a ‘natural born citizen’ as required by the U.S. Constitution."
 
The fact that state officials have sworn an oath the "support, protect, and defend" the Florida and U.S. constitutions means the issue needs an answer, the brief argues, and that state officials are "duty bound to uphold the eligibility requirements."
 
Named as defendants are Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner and the state Elections Canvassing Commission.
 
The new case follows about a dozen others that already have been filed on similar grounds in other states. While most of the cases have been dismissed, some now are on appeal.

Judge Terry Lewis in Leon County has set a hearing for June 18 to consider arguments from both sides of a challenge to Obama’s name on the 2012 state election ballot.

Obama attorneys without defense in Florida eligibility case

Tim Brown is reporting that Terry Lewis in Leon County has set a hearing for June 18 to consider arguments from the attorneys for Barack Obama and Attorney’s representing Michael Voeltz, who filed the challenge to Obama’s name being on the state ballot.
 
Judge Lewis is famous for being the judge that was crucial in the 2000 election between Geroge W. Bush and then vice-president Al Gore.
 
Voeltz is represented by Attorney Larry Klayman’s law firm. Support for Klayman is coming from ConstitutionActionFund.org. What is most interesting in all of this is that this case is not being brought forth by Republicans, but a Democrat.
 
Klayman cited a U.S. Supreme Court case, Minor v. Happersett as the grounds for determining a "natural born citizen." The Constitution puts a restriction on the office of president of the United States that it puts on no other office and that is to make sure there are no divided loyalties to any other nation.
 
Klayman’s argument is one that has not been used in each of the previous cases in the states where Barack Obama’s eligibility has been questioned before a court.
 
In Minor v. Happersett, Virginia Minor was petitioning the court for the voting rights of women and eventually that was ruled unconstitutional at the time.
 
However, one thing was clear in the outcome. The Minor v. Happersett ruling defines "natrual born citizen" as the offspring of two U. S. citizens. Klayman is thus making his argument from the birth certificate that Barack Obama has put out which clearly shows that his father was not a U. S. citizen but was a citizen of Kenya.
 
To understand the citizenship argument from a legal precedent, the below chart from TheObamaFile.com makes understanding the legal terms used for "natural born citizen", "citizen by statute", and "native born citizen" easy to understand. It cites the relevant precedence for the use of these terms in the history of American jurisprudence.

Sheriff Joe challenges eligibility in Florida

Art Moore is reporting that Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his Cold Case Posse lead investigator have submitted sworn affidavits in a Florida case challenging President Obama’s eligibility for the  election ballot of the crucial swing-state that decided the 2000 presidential election.
 
Significantly, Judge Terry Lewis in Leon County – known for his rulings in the Bush v. Gore case at the center of the 2000 contested election – has confronted the White House for failing to support its claim that the term “natural born citizen” in the U.S. Constitution means something other than the offspring of two American citizens

Lewis has scheduled a hearing for Monday at 9 a.m. at the Leon County Courthouse in Tallahassee to hear the Obama team’s motion to dismiss the case and determine whether it should go forward with discovery.
 
Affidavits from Arpaio, Cold Case Posse lead investigator Mike Zullo and WND author and senior reporter Jerome Corsi have been filed ahead of the hearing. The briefs support the complaint’s charge that there is evidence Obama is constitutionally ineligible for the White House and, therefore, original documentation is needed to determine whether he should be on the ballot.
 
Attorney Larry Klayman, founder of the Washington, D.C., watchdogs Judicial Watch and Freedom Watch, is representing a registered member of the Democratic Party, Michael Voeltz, who has filed the complaint as a Florida voter. Klayman’s work is supported by the non-profit ConstitutionActionFund.org.
 
Klayman told WND today that unlike other Obama eligibility cases, this case “likely will go the distance” because of the strength of Florida law, which provides voters with the right to challenge a candidate’s eligibility.
 
“The judge must make a decision based on eligibility,” Klayman explained. “He can’t sidestep it as judges in other states have attempted to do.”
 
Florida “is our best hope to get rulings on the merits.”
 
Klayman said he’s confident his client “has an absolute right to challenge Obama’s eligibility on the Florida ballot.”
 
“As a Floridian,” he added, “I’m proud that the court has the legal means to make a determination on Obama’s eligibility and pray that this court will follow the law.”
 
Also at issue in the case is whether it is the duty of Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner and the state Elections Canvassing Commission – named as defendants – to ensure that all candidates on the state’s ballot are eligible.
 
In a hearing May 31, Lewis noted that while Klayman’s brief cited a U.S. Supreme Court’s decision defining “natural born citizen” as the offspring of two citizens of the nation, the White House’s arguments provided no citations.

As WND reported, the Florida eligibility case points out that Obama posted on the Internet an electronic image of a purported birth certificate alleging he was born in Hawaii to an American citizen mother and a Kenyan father. The complaint notes that Arpaio’s investigation found probable cause that the document is a forgery. But it argues that even if Obama was born in the U.S., he is not a natural-born citizen, because his father was a foreign citizen.
 
Arpaio recounts in his affidavit how, in response to the request of Maricopa County residents, he commissioned a team “of former police officers and attorneys who have worked tirelessly since last October, looking into this controversy.”
 
“Upon close examination of the evidence,” Arpaio states, “it is my belief that forgery and fraud was likely committed in key identity documents including President Obama’s long-form birth certificate, his Selective Service Registration card, and his Social Security number.”

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Obama attorneys argue he's not Democrat nominee

Attorneys arguing on behalf of Barack Obama’s re-election plans today urged a Florida judge to decide that Obama is not yet the Democratic nominee for president and ignore evidence challenging his eligibility.

Attorney Larry Klayman filed the challenge to Obama’s eligibility for the ballot on behalf of Michael Voeltz, who identifies himself in the complaint as "a registered member of the Democratic Party, voter, and taxpayer in Broward County."
 
Attorneys representing Obama at the hearing, argued that the Florida presidential preference primary, which listed Obama as the only Democrat nominee, didn’t make him the party’s nominee for president.
 
Herron argued the Florida process affirms only that Obama is the choice in the state’s presidential preference primary but is not necessarily the party’s nominee for president.

"This language clearly indicates the winner of the president preference primary, not the nominee of the party," he said.
 
But the judge noted that the party wrote to Florida’s secretary of state a letter indicating Obama’s name was the only one submitted, and he thought the state’s electors were bound to vote for him.
 
"Wasn’t there a letter [that said] this is the only candidate whose name will appear?" Lewis asked.
 
Obama’s attorneys said such a decision "has not been triggered yet."
 
Klayman argued that according to state law, when only one name is submitted, that person automatically becomes the nominee, even if the national Democratic Party nominating convention has not been held.