Maryland Court Revives Suit by ‘Birther’

(CN) - Based on a technicality, a Maryland appeals court ruled that a judge wrongly dismissed the case of a former attorney who demanded the arrest of President Barack Obama for allegedly carrying an altered ID.

Montgomery Blair Sibley asked the trial court for a declaration that he could present evidence that Obama is violating the law by possessing a "fictitious or fraudulently altered government identification document," according to court records.

Sibley wrote to Judge John Debelius III, asking for an arrest warrant for the president in September 2014.

Later that month, the assistant state's attorney denied his request, and the grand jury foreman co-signed the letter with an illegible signature.

Sibley sued the John Doe jury foreman for declaratory relief, but the trial court dismissed the case.

Sibley appealed, and the Maryland Court of Special Appeals sided with Sibley on April 28, ruling that the lower court should not have issued the dismissal order without a written declaration of the parties' rights.

In his appeal, Sibley complained that his right to access to the grand jury was violated when an assistant state's attorney allegedly told the foreman that Sibley was a "birther lunatic."

The state's attorney argued to the appeals court that the alleged comment was not improper because "there is no prohibition against prosecutors communicating to a grand jury their opinions about allegations before the jury, including the credibility of those who make the allegations," court records show.

Writing for a three-judge panel of the Maryland Court of Special Appeals, Judge Michael Reed agreed with the assistant state's attorney that Sibley did not have the right to appear before the foreman in person.

Reed also agreed with the trial court's denial of Sibley's motions for pre-service discovery and to recuse Judge Debelius.

However, he remanded the case to the circuit court for the written declaration of rights.

"The circuit court erred in dismissing the complaint for declaratory relief without making a formal declaration of the appellant's rights," Reed wrote.

Sibley has challenged Obama's birth status before, as his federal lawsuit was dismissed in 2012. The judge compared his legal quest to "tilting at windmills."

He represented the late D.C. Madam Deborah Jeane Palfrey before embarking into the medical marijuana farming industry

Last year, a federal court told Sibley that his complaint that congressional leaders John Boehner and Mitch McConnell have failed to call a constitutional convention belongs in superior court.

In 2008, Sibley was suspended from practicing law in Washington, D.C., and Florida for three years. In addition to representing the D.C. Madam, Sibley's list of former clients includes Larry Sinclair, who claimed to have had gay sex with President Obama when Obama was a state senator.

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