Judge Nixes Obama Citizenship Lawsuit

(CN) - A federal judge in Georgia tossed a lawsuit filed by an Army captain who fought deployment to Iraq by questioning the legitimacy of President Obama's American citizenship.

In dismissing Capt. Connie Rhodes' Sept. 4 lawsuit, U.S. District Court Judge Clay Land also threatened her attorney, Orly Taitz, with sanctions if she filed such a "frivolous" lawsuit again in his court.

Rhodes "has presented no credible evidence and has made no reliable factual allegations to support her unsubstantiated ... allegations ... that President Obama is ineligible to serve as president of the United States," Land wrote. "Instead, she uses her complaint as a platform for spouting political rhetoric, such as her claims that the president is 'an illegal usurper, an unlawful pretender, (and) an unqualified imposter.'"

Taitz filed several lawsuits across the country seeking a "judicial determination as to the president's legitimacy to hold the office of president," Land wrote. "Her modus operandi is to use military officers as parties and have them allege that they should not be required to follow deployment orders because President Obama is not constitutionally qualified to be president.

As part of Taitz' so-called "birther movement," Land says Taitz uses "bare, conclusory allegations" that the president is an illegal alien who "might have used as many as 149 addresses and 39 social security numbers" before becoming president.

"Although counsel has managed to fuel this 'birther movement' with her litigation and press conferences, she does not appear to have prevailed on a single claim," Land wrote.

Rhodes claimed in her federal lawsuit in Georgia that Obama was not born in the United States and has refused to disclose publicly an "official birth certificate." As such, she claimed she "cannot in good conscience obey orders originating from a chain of command from this merely de facto president."

Land dismissed that argument, adding in a footnote that "Congress is apparently satisfied that the president is qualified to serve," and that it has not instituted impeachment proceedings on the matter of his citizenship.

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