Last updated on August 10th, 2014 at 05:07 pm
I have thoroughly enjoyed reading the legal decisions of Judge Land in response to the various antics of Orly Taitz. Reading this order, in its entirety, was no exception. While I am not an attorney, Land is understandable even to the non-professional reader. He writes with clarity, and with certain eloquence and even hints of humor. I delight in his use of quotations in his other Orders; we share an appreciation for using the words of others to augment and focus our written thoughts.
In his decision Judge Clay D. Land wrote, “The Court wishes to explore the possibility of directing the financial penalty to the National Infantry Foundation at Ft. Benning, Georgia, which has as part of its mission the recognition of our brave soldiers who do their duty regardless of the personal sacrifice required and their own personal political beliefs. The Assistant U. S. Attorney shall file within thirty days of today’s Order a short brief outlining the position of the United States as to whether such a monetary sanction can be used for this intended purpose. The Court emphasizes that the Court is ordering the penalty to be paid to the United States as required under Rule 11 and not to a third party, but the Court seeks to determine whether the Court is authorized to subsequently order that the proceeds be paid by the United States to the Foundation.”
Judge Land was appointed to his position by former President George W. Bush, who I have been known to criticize from time to time. Let me in fairness not only applaud him for his choice of Land, but give him an enthusiastic standing ovation for this choice. While I am not familiar with the other (than Taitz) decisions of Judge Land, I can only hope that this is an example of our judiciary.
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I hope all of the readers of Politicus will join me in an even more joyous ovation for Judge Land. His words in the above quoted footnote are a better tribute to the mind of the man than anything I can write to laud him. Judge Land, I salute you, your mind and your heart, for your administration of justice, and your thoughtful concern for those members of our armed forces that may benefit from this footnote in your Court Order.
A reading of the various legal actions to further the ‘birther’ movement filed by Taitz, the resulting Court Orders and Decisions, and the complaints filed against her with the California Bar, all strongly suggest that Taitz has been exploiting gullible, trusting, tragically misled members of the United States armed forces solely to promote her own notoriety and political agenda to the detriment of their military careers. Rather than serve the interests of her clients, Taitz acted primarily to serve her own agenda; her intent to continue to do so was one of the reasons for the size of the sanction. This is what makes the effort outlined in the footnote so poignant.
Well done, your honor. Well done……..almost.
An update to this article, subsequent to it being first written, is that Orly Taitz has now filed an appeal of Judge Land’s ruling with the Appellate Court. Taitz is the gift of entertainment that keeps on giving, apparently perpetually. Judge Land was VERY clear in the order from which I quoted the footnote above, that his sole reason for increasing the penalties he assigned was to have those penalties be sufficient to stop Taitz from submitting further frivolous law suits, law suits which reflect a very poor practice of law and which abuse the judicial system, at great cost to the taxpayers who pay for that system.
In addition to doing harm to her clients, despite acting for them pro bono – for free – there are real and extensive costs. In the original case filed by Taitz which came before Judge Land, at Taitz request to expedite hearing the matter, Judge Land not only made arrangements to hold a hearing over his lunch hour. He backed up the scheduled jury trial, involving plaintiffs, defendants, a full jury, and witnesses in order to accomodate Taitz. The Judge was acting in good faith that the additional expense occurring to those other individuals in the trial that was put on hold was justified by the urgency asserted by Taitz — only to have Taitz completely waste everyone’s time, and then go on to abuse Land, and the entire judicial system in media sound bytes in disrespect for his consideration in hearing the case. Over and over and over again; this did not happen just the one time.
From this new filing, it would seem that Judge Land did not seek a high enough dollar amount in that sanction.
The Appellate Court is unlikely to see things in Taitz’ favor. They may decide to opt for futher sanctions above the $20,000 so far. Especially if Taitz follows her pattern of disrespect to the Court when she loses.
Unfortunately for me, I don’t expect the next round of Court decisions will be written by a Judge as meticulous, eloquent, witty, and entertaining as Judge Land. I hope I’m wrong.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
