Democrats to boycott effort to remove Barack Obama from Georgia ballot
Democrats, including the attorney representing President Barack Obama, have made a last-minute decision to boycott the Thursday hearing to consider a “birther” effort to remove Obama from the March 6 presidential primary ballot.
“They can tilt at windmills on their own,” said state Democratic spokesman Eric Gray on Wednesday night.
Last week, in a surprise ruling, a Georgia state administrative judge declined to quash a subpoena directing Obama to attend a hearing Thursday at the Fulton County courthouse on a challenge to strike him from the Georgia ballot this fall on claims he is not a natural born U.S. citizen. Read more background here from my AJC colleague Bill Rankin.
Among tomorrow’s no-shows will be Michael Jablonski, the Atlanta attorney serving as counsel to Obama. He’s written a letter to Secretary of State Brian Kemp, a Republican, asking him to intervene and bring the circus to a halt.
Among those pressing the action is state Rep. Mark Hatfield, R-Waycross. But many ranking Republicans are doing their best to keep their distance.
Here’s the statement just released by Mike Berlon, chairman of the state Democratic party:
“Several lawsuits were recently filed against President Obama questioning whether he is an American citizen in an attempt to remove him from the Georgia primary ballot. Despite the fact that these issues have been thoroughly litigated, a hearing has been scheduled in these cases for Thursday, January 26, 2012. The Democratic Party of Georgia is not a party to any of these lawsuits.
“This afternoon we received a letter from counsel for the President directed to the Georgia Secretary of State asking him to intervene in these lawsuits and bring them to a halt, because it is well established that there is no issue here – a fact validated time and again by courts in this country.
“In the letter, counsel also indicated that they had no interest in continuing to appear or participate further in the litigation and have suspended their involvement.
“We respect the President’s position and urge the Secretary of State to bring this matter to a conclusion. We also believe that each political party has the absolute legal right to determine who should appear on their primary and general election ballots according to their own rules without interference from outside parties.
“In light of these developments the Democratic Party of Georgia has no plans to continue to be involved in these baseless cases. Furthermore the Democratic Party of Georgia will cooperate with the President and his campaign in any way requested to make sure that his name appears on the primary and general election ballots for 2012.”
- By Jim Galloway, Political Insider
For instant updates, follow me on Twitter, or connect with me on Facebook.
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
552 comments Add your comment
bill
January 25th, 2012
11:16 pm
@ chris your level of intelligence is obviously minimal your neck is probably as red as botoxed lips spare yourself the shame and just jump off a cliff!
mx
January 25th, 2012
11:16 pm
lol thwg, I’m 6′4″ 200 lbs and can run circles around you on the hardwood. all you have is a little tootsie roll to play with. no wonder why you and prezbo have so much in common
chris
January 25th, 2012
11:18 pm
@thg or thug? why are we rednecks? because we want obummer to reveal were he actually was born. Does this go along with anyone who opposses hussein is a racist? get a clue. Did u ever vote before this faker and thief ran for president in 2008?..Let me answer that for u and the other uneducated morons that voted for him, absolutley not. Or better yet, do u even know what political party he represents? (Democrat or Republican)..dont rack ur brain on this one. I tell u what, half the ghetto rats on welfare couldn’t. They just thought they were getting another free handout if he was elected in. Big surprise there
WhyHide
January 25th, 2012
11:20 pm
Why are all you liberals here commenting if you are so sure of the outcome? Only a kicked dog howls! I didn’t think Obama was not a legitimate president until now. This has never actually been adjudicated in a court and the fact that they won’t just shove this down the birther’s throats publicly in court is very enlightening. Obama is definitely hiding something. What? I don’t know, but it should scare everyone!
mx
January 25th, 2012
11:21 pm
thuwg,
you didnt answer me boy. Why do blacks only make up 12% of the population, but commit 67% of the crime? Did you already to go bed in the ghetto projects?
td
January 25th, 2012
11:22 pm
I do not know what all you libs are so upset about because your vote in Georgia is not going to count anyway. All 16 votes from Georgia will be cast for the Republican nominee. You libs have no reason to even go to polls and vote if you are only going to vote for Obama. What is the big deal if he is removed from the ballot anyway?
chris
January 25th, 2012
11:25 pm
Wow Bill ur a clever guy!!! No, im not a redneck i just think logically on issues, try it some time. Typical Liberal, getting flustered when facts are represented. Something Liberals cant grasp. Trust me, im not ashamed of myself. Idiots like u should be ashamed of themselves. After all its mental midgets like u that put this narcistic jerk off in the white house to begin with. But then again if I only made $20,000 a year i would want a free handout as well
Smarterthanyou
January 25th, 2012
11:26 pm
What I cannot understand and you FAILto remember with your ignorance is the FACT that HIS MOTHER was an AMERICAN citizen! You are so focused on his father! For the idiots that have never left this state, HE is an American citizen! We have a daughter born on GERMANY soil that is an AMERICAN citizen. Focus on issues that have merit. Get a life!
oh_pleaz
January 25th, 2012
11:26 pm
The posters here that are against the eligibility hearing do not deserve the privilege of voting. There should be an aptitude test to see if one knows enough about the issues to vote. Article II of our Constitution excepts those citizens at the time the Constitution was drafted (George, Adam, et al.) from the “Natural Born” requirement because they were the new Nation’s first citizens, so their parents couldn’t be citizens of the US at the time of their birth.
BO’s Kenyan father disqualifies him from “Natural Born” status and hence he is ineligible to be VP or President. And understand that you need to differentiate between “Natural Born” and plain old “citizen” (naturalized or native) when considering this issue. So many posters wrongly interchange “Natural Born Citizen” and plain “Citizen.” Marco Rubio also is not “Natural Born.” His Cuban parents were not (naturalized) citizens at the time of his birth in the US. He too cannot ever become VP or President! Get it? This isn’t about race. But it IS about someone who knows, as a Constitutional law lecturer at one of the best colleges in the country– University of Chicago– that he is not eligible and pulls a fast one on the sheeple anyhow!
The onus is now on BO to prove that he is eligible. No one in State or Federal government challenged him on this in 2008 out of fear of being labeled racist by those who throw that word around wholesale. This is long overdue and should never happen again.
This is our Constitution, folks. If one can ignore it, then we have corruption (now more than ever) and chaos (more of that real soon). Believe me, that won’t be pretty. And we’ll lose many more liberties in the process.
In his own words:
Chuckles
January 25th, 2012
11:27 pm
Dear Hawaii is a cesspool,
It is true that all cases filed in The Federal Courts have been dismissed for lack of standing.
Any Georgia voter has legal standing in State Court to challenge the qualifications of any candidate, as provided by the state legislature — actually quite a ‘progressive’ concept. This is why the motion to dismiss was denied. The judge is not an idiot, toothless, or backwoods, he simply must hear the case, by law; the complaint was referred to his court.
The president’s college transcripts, social security number, etc, are immaterial to the question before the court, and will likely not be admitted into evidence. Judges do not take kindly to their courts being turned into circuses for political grandstanding.
Even if his grandmother ‘pulled a fast one’ fifty years ago, the fact is that an official Hawaiian state record exists that indicates a 1961 birth in Honolulu, Hawaii. The Georgia court is bound to give that record full faith and credit per Art. IV Sec. 1. This legally establishes two of the three criteria necessary for qualification to office: 1) he is a natural born citizen, and 2) he is at least 35 years old. The last criteria is that he must have resided in the United States for 14 of his 50 years.
The plaintiffs must prove otherwise, and nothing in any of the filings comes close to doing that.
As I said in my earlier post, summary judgement for the defendant. Case closed. I’m thinking 30 minutes tops.
heather
January 25th, 2012
11:30 pm
Why is everyone so determined to believe that Obama is not an American Citizen .This is getting old people. Move on.
Gnarly Erik
January 25th, 2012
11:31 pm
How incrediby and obtusely silly! This is on the same level as Michelle Bachmann’s delusional hysteria. This judge’s irrationality quotient is obviously so dangerously elevated, normal and more lucid people stay away from him.
td
January 25th, 2012
11:31 pm
Smarterthanyou
January 25th, 2012
11:26 pm
The fact that Obama is a citizen has never been in question. Is he a “natural born citizen” is the question at hand. There are only two jobs in this country that Constitutionally require you to be a “natural born” citizen and they are to become President or Vice-President. What “natural born” citizen means is up in the air and there are several different interpretations and the SCOTUS has not ruled on the matter.
WhyHide
January 25th, 2012
11:33 pm
Chuckles, sorry, but the college transcripts are pertinent if Obama attended college on a scholarship for foreign students. If this rumor is true, I don’t know if it is, then the college transcripts are most definitely appropriate evidence in this case.
Real Athens
January 25th, 2012
11:33 pm
Judicial activism anyone? Oh, the horror.
Georgia continues its march … backward.
John
January 25th, 2012
11:34 pm
@mx, Thuwg is probably sipping on his 40oz of Old E right now. But then again he might have gone to bed because he has to go pick up his welfare check in the morning. Oh wait that’s the first of the month! When he is done paying off his babies mamas with 10 kids by 7 different dads he will probably be broke. There is a reason why they all call each other brother, they don’t know who their dads are!
Martin Williams
January 25th, 2012
11:39 pm
Governor Deal, where is the love man? Will make this statement again and maybe for last time. GOP folks DO NOT love this country. GOP folks love their pockets and their stupid ideologies. Both they want people to believe especially Southerners. You see Newt just took the folks in South Carolina to the bank.
Chuckles
January 25th, 2012
11:41 pm
Dear WhyHide,
Not in this case.
That would be a separate case involving fraud. This judge will not rule on that, as he does not have jurisdiction for a criminal offense, particularly one that did not occur in Georgia.
If the rumor is true, then the president has a political problem, as the statute of limitations would most likely have expired.
mx
January 25th, 2012
11:42 pm
Exactly John! Thuwg had to call it an early night and exit out of here when he was given facts…and he had no answer for them. That’s their only defense….run away or cry racism! wahhhhhh
sus
January 25th, 2012
11:45 pm
Georgia is disgusting. That is all.
WhyHide
January 25th, 2012
11:46 pm
Chuckles, you are assuming fraud, and this is why the President should show up and answer a few simple questions to put all this to rest once and for all.
td
January 25th, 2012
11:47 pm
Why are all you libs on this blog trying to bash the State for having a hearing on a matter that is within the law of the state filed by 5 individuals (might I add that two of them are dems)? Do you all not want the state to uphold the laws of the state? Do you think Obama is above the law?
td
January 25th, 2012
11:50 pm
WhyHide
January 25th, 2012
11:46 pm
I agree that the hearing should take place but the President should not have to make a personal appearance. The office of the President is way to important for the holder of the office to be forced to show up for every lawsuit filed against the individual.
Chuckles
January 25th, 2012
11:56 pm
Dear WhyHide,
I am not assuming fraud.
If you are referring to the Foreign student paperwork in Mr. Donofrio’s brief, please note that it refers to the president’s father, not the president — they have the same name.
I have seen nothing in the filings that indicates the president attended college on a foreign student scholarship.
John
January 26th, 2012
12:06 am
Administrative law judges are jokes. Overworked, underpaid, and often not paying attention. And this one is in Columbus. Yea, a joke.
Bill
January 26th, 2012
12:11 am
Proud Georgia Native……………………… I concur with you.
Now SAWB, CAWP
January 26th, 2012
12:31 am
Folks have gone from SAWB to CAWP–crazy @$$ white people. When will you people ever stop?
Alabama Communist
January 26th, 2012
12:49 am
Funniest Show Yet about Newt and Obama along with the fruitcakes of the GOP..Click on 1/24/12 show and hang on….http://www.americanfreedomradio.com/Strange_Universe_12.html
god bless Orly!
January 26th, 2012
12:55 am
Cant wait to wake up tomorrow and watch it !!!!
if Obama has nothing to hide then why is he hiding,I mean running scared?
god bless Orly!
January 26th, 2012
12:56 am
Enter your comments here
Pizzaman
January 26th, 2012
1:15 am
If anyone ever doubted that the bigoted “Yellow Dog Democrats” who hated the “negro” of the 20’s, 30’s 40’s 50′ 60′ and 70’s became the “Redneck Republicans” of the 70’s and on all you have to do is read this crap and see that the South still considers the black person inferior to the white. What a disgrace!
Jason in Gainesville
January 26th, 2012
1:39 am
Get a life, you bunch of lunatic, freak-show rejects!!
Chuckles
January 26th, 2012
2:11 am
Please stop this vitriolic nonsense regarding the South.
Note that the attorneys advocating these utterly bizarre theories hail from California and New Jersey. They are filing in Georgia, only because it is sensible enough to afford its citizens the right to be heard in a court of law, instead of suppressing them by ruling that they don’t have legal standing to challenge the state.
This judge is required by law to hear this case on its merits. As an Alabamian, educated in Georgia, I predict that the president will prevail.
Atlantarama
January 26th, 2012
2:47 am
Oh, come on. You have to feel at least a little bit sorry for the Republicans having to resort to this.
amory
January 26th, 2012
3:02 am
Okay, this is infuriating, especially since the mainstream press won’t touch it. Instead we get vague allegations about something a Republican candidate did 20 years ago in his personal life, but the refusal of the president to provide BASIC identity documents is framed as something crazy. What about what they did to McCain? They had a freakin’ CONGRESSIONAL HEARING to examine his elligibility because he was born while his father was stationed in the US military in Panama! But ObaMAO spending 2 MILLION dollars of his own money and bending the legal system around his finger to avoid producing ID documents isn’t an issue??!!!!! WHERE Is THE JUSTICE?????????!!!!!!!!
Do Not Tell
January 26th, 2012
3:03 am
they went to Al. and got to that judge so he changed his mind, they will do the same with this one.
Uncle Joe
January 26th, 2012
3:07 am
We SHOULD be a nation of laws and follow the Constitution. But clearly we do not and have not for a long time. We are a nation of public opinion shaped by the media. This is why a disdainful smirk from Diane Sawyer has greater influence than the rule of law. This is why labeling those who don’t believe “African” is a race, can be succesfully labeled “birthers”. This is why Republicans, for the most part, are cowards when it comes to this issue.
HENRY
January 26th, 2012
3:40 am
THE PRESIDENT WAS BORN IN KENYA AND ANYONE WITH A BRAIN KNOWS IT. NO ONE THAT VOTED FOR THE “COMRADE AND CHIEF” WILL EVER BELIEVE IT. OR THEY JUST CHOOSE TO IGNORE IT AS LONG AS A BLACK MAN IS IN THE WHITE HOUSE. HE WON’T BE THERE MUCH LONGER. I PREDICT A LANDSLIDE FOR THE REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE.
Chuckles
January 26th, 2012
3:41 am
Dear Amory,
If the president does not produce his short or long form birth certificate in court tomorrow, either in person, or through his attorney, the plaintiffs are entitled to a default judgement, and his name should not appear on the ballot.
Having produced it for the press to judge, there is no excuse for not producing it for a judge to judge.
Blowing off a duly constituted court would be so Harvard Law, not Emory Law — that I grant you.
Obamalations Georgia
January 26th, 2012
4:05 am
GOP lost in 2008 and the GOP will lose again in 2012 to a black man…it has to hurt REAL BAD to accept that fact to a bunch of southern fried inbred hicks.
OBAMALATIONS!
What has President Obama done for America?
January 26th, 2012
4:23 am
Please read!
1. Got Osama bin laden…check
2. Unemployment rate 8.5%…check.
3. 1.6 million jobs created with no GOP help…check
4. 22 months of job and economic growth with no help…check
5. Ended war in Iraq …check
6. DADT repeal…check
7. Not one tax hike in 3 years….check
8. Brought out of racism in the Gop…check
9. Still carry 80% of the black vote…check
10. Same wife for 15 years with no extra marital affairs…check
11. Save auto industry and 1.5 million jobs.. check
12. Assisted in ousting Khaddafi…check
13. Only active President to receive Nobel Peace prize while in office…check
14. Mortgage modification to prevent home owners from losing their home…check
15. STILL fighting for middle class families…check
16. Reform Affordable healthcare….check
Despite what the GOP would have you believe the President has been doing these things and more by himself. Obama 2012- Re-post to support!!!
Omg
January 26th, 2012
4:42 am
Surely yall jest!
Nathanael
January 26th, 2012
5:34 am
@Nation of Laws
“I dare anyone to read the entire thing and say that it is not without cause for consideration.”
Sorry, but anything written by Donofrio is, ipso facto, without cause for consideration. Especcially when it mentions Minor v. Happersett.
Nathanael
January 26th, 2012
5:46 am
@Chuckles
“If the president does not produce his short or long form birth certificate in court tomorrow, either in person, or through his attorney, the plaintiffs are entitled to a default judgement,”
Based on what? This is a fact-finding hearing. There is no “default judgment”.
@amory
“the refusal of the president to provide BASIC identity documents”
Well, except for those pesky birth certificates, certified and vetted by the State of Hawaii. They’re fakes and forgeries because … um … because our expert typesetting and scanner salesman say they are. Yeah, that’s it. Oh, and OMG LAYERS! They’ve got LAYERS! Bwa-ha-ha!
What? Pieces of paper don’t have layers? Oh, umm ….
OMG! Artifacts! They’ve got artifacts!
silverbull8
January 26th, 2012
6:02 am
Obama is the Imposter in Chief.
He is a US Citizen eligible to be a US Senator, but he admits on his websites he was a native born a dual citizen, which means he is not a natural born US Citizen.
Natural born US Citizens are native born of two US Citizens.
He is “de facto” not “de jure”, and he will face “quo warranto”.
“Hint” see Bouvier’s Law Dictionary 1897 and 1914 versions
Justin
January 26th, 2012
6:02 am
The President’s legal team and the Democratic Party of Georgia made the right decision not to participate in a case that absolutely has no merit. The State of Georgia, in the person of the Secretary of State should rule this case to be without merit and put an end to this nonsense. The good people of Georgia should not allow their names to be used by fringe elements in this country to do their evil deeds.
silverbull8
January 26th, 2012
6:03 am
The US Constitution sets eligibility for Legislature, President and Judiciary.
Anybody can be a Legislator and Judge, but the Presidency is restricted to natural born citizens.
How restrictive did the Founding Fathers define natural born citizen?
The candidate is primarily responsible to know and meet qualifications and eligibility.
The candidate chooses to run for office or the party chooses the candidate best poised to win.
The party vets the candidate up, down, left, right, outside, inside, etc.
Obama was a US Senator.
Obama admitted he was born a dual national.
Someone said he lost foreign nationality by age 23.
Someone really badly and urgently wanted Obama to be President.
Obama got on the primary ballot.
He was challenged.
He posted an online image of a document with incomplete data abstracted from an original, but he refused to provide a direct photo-transfer of am image of the original document.
This confused and fooled most of the population into voting for him, regardless of his eligibility.
He won by fraud.
He was challenged, but the challengers were ignored, ridiculed and marginalized.
He was inaugurated.
The challenges continued.
The challengers were still ignored, ridiculed and marginalized.
Nobody accepted the challengers might be on to something, it was easier to ignore, ridicule and marginalize them.
If Obama wins and I lose, then what do you win?
You fool, you lose, if I lose, but you are stuck in denial.
The Founding Fathers wanted to restrict the definition of natural born citizen to native born of two citizens.
silverbull8
January 26th, 2012
6:04 am
Maybe you should stop and pay attention to the birther message and consider the vocal few just may be aware of something you choose to ignore. Just maybe birthers are seeing a critical situation that you need to accept and support, or you will find yourself in a very expensive fight to correct a problem and recover the Constitutional Republic.
I may be wrong, but you cannot afford it if I prove to be correct, and I lose.
Give it some thought.
silverbull8
January 26th, 2012
6:05 am
The Mainstream Media (MSM) is to blame for unqualified Obama being passed through the 2008 presidential elections. The MSM hyped and sensationalized Obama on skin color and refused to give challengers to his eligibility fair and unbiased access to media.
The MSM aided and abetted the fraud of the 2008 election. So, now the MSM cowers in shame.
NL Brave
January 26th, 2012
6:09 am
This why I’m no longer registered as a Republican. These people are stupid.