Outspoken conservative San Diego Superior Court Judge Gary Kreep, best known for challenging the citizenship of President Barack Obama and the legitimacy of his administration, has been banished to Traffic Court by his fellow judges after 9 months on the bench.

Kreep was reassigned September 9 to a court that handles traffic disputes and small claims after repeated complaints from attorneys who boycotted his courtroom over his general conduct. No official reason for his demotion was given.

When elected, Kreep expressed a desire to handle family court cases, but according to San Diego City Beat reporter Dave Maass, who spent some time watching Kreep at work his first week on the job, he was given an obscure posting in a small misdemeanor court. 

Kreep was narrowly elected judge in June 2012 over respected Deputy District Attorney Garland Peed and was sworn in on January 7. Prior to his election, he played a prominent part in a birther infomercial and provided legal representation to groups challenging the president’s citizenship in court. He is founder and executive director of the United States Justice Foundation (USJF), whose website questions whether one can be “a true Democrat and a true Christian.”

The foundation celebrated the move to thwart “any ideas the United Nations had about taking over the State of Alabama” and sued in 2008 to block the issuance of gender-neutral marriage licenses in California. But its website’s main focus is on perceived Muslim terrorists who, with Obama’s help, are allegedly engaged in a campaign to destroy the U.S. Constitution and establish a government based on Islamic Shariah law.

Kreep served as unpaid general counsel for the Minutemen Civil Defense Corps, an organization that urged its membership in March 2010 to show up “locked and loaded” for voluntary border patrol aimed at keeping illegal aliens out of the country.

The 63-year-old jurist originally made his political mark as an original member of the San Diego Human Rights Commission in the early 1990s. Kreep was appointed by a city council member who opposed creation of the commission, whose mission is to “foster mutual respect and understanding, protect basic human and civil rights, and create an atmosphere that promotes peaceful and harmonious relations.” Instead, his appointment helped foster volatile confrontations between gay-rights activists and Christian fundamentalists.   

Kreep graduated with a bachelor of arts degree in economics from the University of California, San Diego in 1972  and received a juris doctor from the University of San Diego School of Law three years later.  

An online poll conducted by the conservative U-T San Diego asked its readers, “Where should elected Judge Gary Kreep serve?” Out of 809 responses as of Saturday, 29% wanted him on the Superior Court, and 14% thought he was Supreme Court material. Only 2% said Traffic Court. But the majority, 53%, thought he shouldn’t be on any court at all.

–Ken Broder

To Learn More:

“Birther” Judge Banished to Traffic Court (by Greg Moran, U-T San Diego)

Judge Kreep (by Dave Maass, San Diego City Beat)

Birther Wins Seat on San Diego Superior Court (by Ken Broder, AllGov California)