Laguna Niguel dentist, lawyer and full-time “birther” Orly Taitz lost yet another challenge to the legitimacy of Barack Obama’s presidency when a U.S. District Court judge rejected her petition last week to halt counting of Electoral College votes.

Judge Morrison C. England ruled in a Sacramento courtroom packed with 60 Taitz sympathizers that she lacked standing to file for a restraining order, didn’t file her legal documents on  time, was unlikely to succeed at trial and made unsupported claims.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Edward Olsen said that none of the three persons named by Taitz in her petition as being in danger of immediate harm from Obama’s election—because they themselves were candidates for the office—had been on the ballot in any states. One of the three was in federal prison, he said.

Taitz’s biggest unsupported claim is the same one she has made since the president was elected: that he was not really born in Hawaii, is not a citizen of the United States and therefore cannot be elected president. She has lost that argument in multiple venues.

“The state of Hawaii has already certified all of this to be not true,” the judge said.

The White House released a copy of Obama’s long-form birth certificate last year and Hawaiian officials have verified the document as genuine. Before the certificate was released, a Gallup poll said 24% Americans thought Obama was “definitely” or “probably” born in another country. Kenya was the popular frontrunner. After the document was released, that poll number dropped to 13%.  

Congress certified the president’s election on Friday, announcing the votes of electors chosed by the states at the direction of the 12^th Amendment. Obama needed 270 votes and received 332 to Mitt Romney’s 206.

A particularly virulent strain of right-wing radicalism has justified all manner of obstructionism in government and politics by trying to delegitamize a president who became the first candidate since Dwight Eisenhower to capture more than 51% of the vote in both of his elections.  

Obama will take the oath of office on January 20, unless Taitz can come up with a better argument and find a more sympathetic ear.

–Ken Broder

To Learn More:

Judge Rejects Birther Challenge to Electoral Count (by Juliet Williams, Associated Press)

It's Official: Electoral College Count Affirms Obama's Victory (by Donna Cassata, Associated Press)