Illinois Candidate Birth Certificate Case Goes to 4th Appellate Court – Part 2

Yesterday, I noted that the birth certificate issue had not gotten much coverage since MSNBC talk show host Chris Matthews brought it up.  He suggested President Barack Obama could easily quash the issue by sending him a copy of his birth certificate.

But McHenry County resident Sharon Meroni has been persistent in her quest to make it possible for citizens like herself to make certain that candidates are actually citizens.

We left off yesterday with the Illinois State Board of Elections have tossed out her objections and Mernoni having filed for administrative review in the circuit court in Springfield.

In the court case, the Illinois Attorney General argued, among other things, that Maroni was trying to amend election law and that the courtroom was not where that is done, not to mention that she did not point to any specific deficiency in the candidates’ petitions.

Meroni counselor Steve Boulton points out in his arguments that the state and national constitutions are quite clear as to the requirements to hold office. From that assumption, he concludes that Meroni had justification for her objections.

He argues that by dismissing objections for which no request was made, the Board exceeded its statutory authority.

He argues that Meroni was not provided due process because she had no way to provide evidence whether or not the candidates were citizens because she had not access to their birth certificates.

Boulton does suggest that the Board could have allowed the issuance subpoenas for birth certificates of candidates so challenged.

He further points out that constitutional questions cannot be answered by administrative agencies like the Illinois State Board of Elections. It takes a judge to make such a ruling.

“Strict scrutiny” is required for protecting “the fundamental right to vote,” Meroni’s lawyer argues. He points out that right is “a cornerstone of American democracy.”

Boulton argues that the impossibility of Meroni to determine whether or not candidates are citizens put an unconstitutional burden on her, especially because the electoral board “affirmatively refuses to make inquiry.”

Commenting on the adequacy of election officials relying only on the nominating petition to determine a person’s eligibility to hold public office, the brief says,

“Simply put, if a candidate has lied under oath in stating that he is a registered voter or otherwise engaged in falsehood in representing his citizenship, a basic requirement of candidacy under the Illinois Constitution, the nomination papers cannot in any way be considered ‘valid.’”

He calls the five day period allowed for objections a “substantial and unreasonable” barrier since it takes a court order to obtain a birth certificate if one is not related to the person. In addition, immigration and naturalization records are not subject to the Federal Freedom of Information Act. And the Illinois FOIA bars unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.

So, a person wanting to challenge a candidate’s citizenship is effectively blocked from doing so in Illinois.

Meroni’s attorney asks the appellate court to give her a second shot before the State Board of Elections, declare the rule used to dismiss her objections invalid or declare the “legislative scheme employed by the State of Illinois has deprived her of her constitutional rights.”

You can read the whole brief here.


Comments

Illinois Candidate Birth Certificate Case Goes to 4th Appellate Court – Part 2 — 24 Comments

  1. It’s almost like she is trying to say that the County Clerk is incompitient to perform their duties.

    Isn’t it part of their duty to check this before the deadline?

    This isn’t a personnal thing now it has gotten to the high courts.

    This is legislation changing.

  2. So now our tax dollars are being spent to deal with the delusional whims of fringe members of our society? Why aren’t you tax fighters all over this nonsense?

    Ps. birthers are idiots.

  3. What a bunch of wackadoos. We shouldn’t have to pay for these nuts to abuse our legal system just because they are too lazy and clueless to go the appropriate route, i.e., the legislature.

    Hopefully that Boulton clown will lose his license to practice law. What an ambulance chaser. Must be awfully desperate hooking up with a birther. Doesn’t she also use another name?

  4. There is a great deal I have learned about this case in nearly 3 years of digging for the truth.

    I have qualified for high Top Secret Clearances during my military career. Something I doubt the person in the White House could ever have done for a great many reasons. These investigations are very thorough. His back ground and sealed records would have quickly disqualified him for any Top Secret.

    We don’t know what hospital he was born at. He has claimed two. Neither has any record of his mom being admitted at the time he claims to have been born.

    His name was legally changed to Barry Soetoro. To date no court record has been found where his name was legally changed back to Obama. That alone is illegal.

    His college records have been sealed. His record of service in the Illinois Senate have been sealed. Those would be open to qualify for a Top Secret.

    We do know his Father was NOT an American citizen. The US Constitution when it comes to the qualification to be President has never been changed. So we must use the laws of 1787 to define Natural Born Citizen.

    The best I can learn is that Barry would have been reguarded at birth as a British Subject. This alone permanently bans Barry from being President. Natural Born Citizenship precludes anyone from ever holding any Citizenship, but American from being President.

    Nancy Pelosi sent notifications to every State, but Hawaii, omitting the statement that Barry was Constitutionally Qualified to be President after Barry’s nomination in 2008. So only Hawaii had any grounds to put Barry’s name on the ballot. The rest should have immediately rejected his name right them for NOT being qualified.

    In a personal conversation with my State’s Secretary of State, she told me that she assumed and NEVER checked to see if Barry was Constitutionally Qualified. That was a failure of her to do her duty. And she admitted that.

    So rusrus and Sally have much to learn about the facts in this case.

  5. I’ve lost count of the number of suits, motions, challenges and so forth filed by Sharon Meroni. I believe I am correct in maintaining that every single filing has been summarily dismissed by the respective tribunal or board because her legal rantings have legal merit whatsoever.

    Serial amateur litigators like Meroni, who appear to be driven by fringe ideological beliefs, do little more than waste taxpayer money and scarce judicial resources.

    Would it not make more sense to report on Meroni’s crackpot pseudo-legal claims if and when — just once! — she manages to prevail in court on so much as a single substantive issue?

    When, as is inevitable, her current appeal is laughed out of court, I only hope that you will print a fair follow-up to what has been published to date — replete with representative quotations from the court of appeals.

    If Ms. Meroni wants to rewrite Illinois law so that it conforms to her personal preferences, there is a democratic process for pursuing that end. To the extent that Meroni’s crusade might be worthy of consideration, her energies should be directed to the legislature, not the courts.

  6. Guard Sgt knows little about security clearances or the law and much that’s absolutely false about Obama and the law. And Meroni aka Chalice Jackson? Meroni’s a clown, a “God Bless You” clown.

  7. Guard SGT posts the same birther drivel, one lie after another.

    “We don’t know what hospital he was born at. He has claimed two.”– nope, that’s a lie.

    “Neither has any record of his mom being admitted at the time he claims to have been born.” — he was born close to 50 years ago, hospitals don’t keep patient records for nearly that long, and they are prohibited from releasing what records they do have to the public. Another lie.

    “His name was legally changed to Barry Soetoro.” — Another lie.

    “His college records have been sealed.” — no, they are protected by the same laws that protect everybody’s college records. Another lie.

    “Natural Born Citizenship precludes anyone from ever holding any Citizenship, but American from being President.” — nope, another lie.

    There are other untruths and false implications packed into that post, but I hope I’ve pointed out enough to make it clear that Guard SGT is either woefully ignorant or a blatant liar.

  8. To Plutodog and BigGuy:

    First Plutodog. I can tell you have never held any military security clearance. If you had, you wouldn’t be typing what you did. I have been there, done that. First hand beats knowledge beats you!

    Second, BigGuy. You parrot the Barry Soetoro talking lies very well. You do nothing to disprove any of my points.

    Look in Barry’s two so called autobiographies. He does name two hospitals. The admission records have been found for both hospitals. I have seen copies. Sorry, Barry’s Mom was never admitted!

    Even Barry admits his name was legally changed. The problem is there is no court record of it being changed back!

    Barry’s records are sealed. No one, not even Wikileaks, has seen them. We have no proof beyond his word (worth nothing) that he even was there. And one college, no one even remembers him ever being there!

    You need to go back and study your US Constitution. Words mean things. This is even more true in the US Constitution. You need to go back and restudy this part. Our founding fathers could have just used the word Citizen to describe the qualification. The instead used Natural Born Citizen as the standard. That is an even higher standard than just being a Citizen. Again, Barry was born a British Subject. So he has NEVER been and can never be a Natural Born Citizen.

    So BigGuy, you have a great deal of studying to do. Just typing the talking points of the ignorant on this topic don’t cut it.

  9. To Plutodog and BigGuy:

    First Plutodog. I can tell you have never held any military security clearance. If you had, you wouldn’t be typing what you did. I have been there, done that. First hand beats knowledge beats you!

    Second, BigGuy. You parrot the Barry Soetoro talking lies very well. You do nothing to disprove any of my points.

    Look in Barry’s two so called autobiographies. He does name two hospitals. The admission records have been found for both hospitals. I have seen copies. Sorry, Barry’s Mom was never admitted!

    Even Barry admits his name was legally changed. The problem is there is no court record of it being changed back!

    Barry’s records are sealed. No one, not even Wikileaks, has seen them. We have no proof beyond his word (worth nothing) that he even was there. And one college, no one even remembers him ever being there!

    You need to go back and study your US Constitution. Words mean things. This is even more true in the US Constitution. You need to go back and restudy this part. Our founding fathers could have just used the word Citizen to describe the qualification. The instead used Natural Born Citizen as the standard. That is an even higher standard than just being a Citizen. Again, Barry was born a British Subject. So he has NEVER been and can never be a Natural Born Citizen.

    So BigGuy, you have a great deal of studying to do. Just typing the talking points of the ignorant on this topic don’t cut it.

  10. LOL, Guard SGT, I think you’re mixed up on your notion of the burden of proof.

    “He does name two hospitals.” Citation please? Quote a passage where he names any hospital other than Kapi’olani. Simply claiming he said it proves nothing.

    “The admission records have been found for both hospitals. I have seen copies.” Oh, really? You’ve seen hospital admission records going back 50 years? You don’t mind if I ask for some documentation, do you?

    “And one college, no one even remembers him ever being there!” Really? *No one* remembers? You’ve asked everyone who was there? Who do you think you’re kidding?

    “Even Barry admits his name was legally changed.” That’s nice. Have you got a reference, some place where we can verify that he said that? I bet you don’t, but you can prove be wrong if you’ve got the evidence.

    “Again, Barry was born a British Subject. So he has NEVER been and can never be a Natural Born Citizen.” That’s funny. How come, all through the 2008 presidential campaign, no one noticed that this was a problem? Not his primary opponents, not his general election opponents, not anyone in the press or in Congress? How come you didn’t mention it when it might have made a difference?

    Let’s have some documentation. So far you’re all talk.

  11. Read his so called autobiographies. You won’t take my word, so read for yourself.

    Try googling “Barry Soetoro”. It is simple to do.

    Back in 2008, Barry’s gang of thugs prevented challenge by labeling any questioning, being racist!

    The Democrat Party admits they NEVER certified Barry was a Natural Born Citizen! The letter to all the states and DC didn’t certify Barry as NBC. They only sent such certification to Hawaii. The Michigan Secretary of State never checked. She has told me personally. She goofed by assuming and admits the mistake.

    Now you do your homework instead of parroting talking points that are in gross error! I have for 3 years. It is amazing all that I have learned about this most secretive person impersonating a President.

    Now all Ms. Meroni is asking is for candidates to show proof that they are State and Federally (if applicable) qualified to run for the office they are seeking. Now why is that wrong??? Shouldn’t laws and Constitutions be followed???

  12. OK, so just as I thought, you have no evidence whatsoever!

    You can’t quote the passage where you claim Obama said he was born in two different hospitals.

    You can’t back up your ridiculous claim that you have personally seen copies of 50-year-old hospital admission records.

    You can’t establish that he “admits his name was legally changed.”

    You can’t back up your claim that “no one even remembers him ever being there!”

    And you haven’t answered my question about why no one raised the issue of his admitted dual citizenship at birth prior the 2008 election.

    You’ve got absolutely nothing!

    “Shouldn’t laws and Constitutions be followed???” Of course they should! And the reason Sharon Ann Meroni is getting absolutely nowhere with her ludicrous suits is that the judges have told her in no uncertain terms that the laws and the Constitution *are* being followed. She’s been told repeatedly that if she wants the laws to be changed, she needs to go the the legislature and make her case.

    But, in the mean time, why don’t you try again? Can you substantiate a single one of the bogus claims you’ve made? I doubt it. So far you’re just waving your hands and spouting hot air.

    Come on, where’s the evidence? For any one of those points?

    Face it, you’ve got nothing!

  13. Very Funny BigGuy! Very, Very funny!

    The problem is the joke here is you!

    You are the one showing nothing! You are taking the word of a lying politician as gospel.

    Barry has never shown any document to prove he is Natural Born Citizen. Nor do you!

    I see you didn’t even try to Google “Barry Soetoro”! You show all here that you are a parrot. You type words without meaning to you! So go Google! You will be amazed at what you will learn. So try learning instead of being a parrot of mis-information!

    And you are WRONG about Ms. Meroni! Any person she originally named in her case that showed they were qualified had the case dropped. The rest refused to show any proof. So she pressed her right as a citizen to contest their placement on the ballot until proof was shown.

    What we are talking about is simple. If you are stopped for say speeding. The officer asks you for your licence. Would any officer settle for you saying, “Yep, I got it.”

    The officer would ask, “So, Sir, show it to me.”

    You would say, “No, you will just have to trust me! I refuse to show you anything!”

    Try it and see how far it gets you!!!

    Yet that is what you say politicians should do when asked by a citizen to show proof that they are qualified for the office they are running for. So why should politicians get by with such an extremely low standard??? A low standard that allows them to break the laws and Constitution without challenge! And why don’t we have the right to question them on this??? That is all Ms. Meroni is trying to do. And yet you have the gall to question her and not the politicians! You have everything reversed!

    So how do we KNOW laws and Constitution are being followed when no proof is being offered???

    So think about it. And just try Googling before you reply!

  14. What on earth are you babbling about? I’m supposed to Google “Barry Soetoro” and come up with what — every time that phrase has appeared online? You call that evidence? What does that prove?

    I’ve asked you for your evidence that he “admits his name was legally changed.” I’m still asking you for it. Have you got any?

    And I’m asking you for your evidence that he said he was born in two different hospitals. Have you got any?

    And I’m asking you for your evidence that “no one even remembers him ever being there!” Have you got any?

    And I’m asking you for your evidence that you have personally seen copies of 50-year-old hospital admission records. Have you got any?

    You know, I get a kick out of the fact that you brag about having researched this for three years. I have news for you: If the results of your three years of research is the “evidence” that you’ve shown so far — namely, absolutely nothing — I can’t imagine what you’re so proud of.

    You’ve got nothing. Even after three years of looking. Not a single thing.

  15. You are a riot! A barrel of monkeys!

    You are way to chicken to learn a few facts!!!!

    Barry’s book “Dreams of My Father” has many times he is called Barry. Even when he was notified of his Dad’s death from drunk driving he was called Barry.

    Now why would that be if it wasn’t his name????

    It is you that offer nothing, but long disproved talking points.

    So do some honest home work. All you are doing is proving that you are uninformed! And that you don’t want to be informed. Learning new information isn’t scary. It is good for you!

    I also noticed you dropped your rant on Ms. Meroni’s law suit to have the election laws enforced. Did my point of “Trust, but Verify!” (thanks President Reagan) make a point you can’t refute???

  16. Oh, poor child! Are you really unfamiliar with the concept of nicknames? You know, the idea that someone named “Barack” might be called “Barry” as a child and maybe even as an adult? Are you actually dumb enough — or dishonest enough — to claim that the use of a nickname is evidence of a legal name change?

    Remember what you said? It’s still right up there on the page. You said that he “admits his name was legally changed.” So, where’s the quote? When did he admit that his name was legally changed? Until you show some evidence, the only reasonable conclusion is that you’re lying.

    And that applies to your other bogus claims as well. You have yet to show a single piece of evidence to back up a single thing you’ve said. Where’s your evidence for any of them? Is it every bit as solid as the nickname theory you are citing as proof of a legal name change? And these are the fruits of three years of research?

    Regarding my comments on Chalice’s law suits, you are simply proclaiming your own poor reading comprehension skills. I tried to point out to you why she has so far lost every round in her legal battles, and if you want to know more, read what the judges have said. Arguing with me is pointless.

    Here’s an example:

    “It is hereby ordered: The Petitioners motion is denied. There is no legal precedent that allows the Petitioner the particular redress that is sought.”

    As has been pointed out many times to her, the law has been complied with. If she doesn’t consider current election laws to be sufficient, she has the right to campaign for revised legislation.

    She also has the right to pursue her bogus cases in court, and if she does, she’s most likely to continue getting smacked down.

  17. Big Guy you are wasting your time. The eight years of the Bush cartel was enough to convince the extreme fringe right wing that stupidity was a valid, debatable point of view.

  18. I only hope nobody calls me “zach” or that means I have changed my name.

  19. BigGuy you stick to the talking points that were tossed long ago!

    You are blind to the truth. And too darned chicken to look up a fact for yourself! You prefer darkness to the light of truth. That is so sad!

    Barry isn’t a nickname. It is the LEGAL name for Barack H. Obama. Barry is the name he got in a court of law. But you don’t believe in laws now do you!

    You whine like a baby about no facts. But what have you shown??? Not a thing! I have done the home work you refuse. All you do are call people liars that are telling you the truth!

    Debating you can be pointless. You refuse to check anything out.

    I see you want NO standard when it comes to candidates and qualifications. You want the entire US Constitution thrown away. You want no rights. Just let big government run your insignificant life for you!

    I have spent a career in the military and part in the Middle East twice to defend the US Constitution. And you are all too happy to throw it all away. And for what. A bunch a lies from people you wouldn’t trust as a used car salesman????

    Zach, you have drunk too much of the left’s Kool-aide. President Bush was and is a very honorable man. Too bad the occupant of the White House today has no honor! Someday, just maybe your eyes will be opened too. The cartel is the gang that is there now! And it makes old Al Capone look like an honest guy! That is Barry’s Chicago way!!

  20. “Barry is the name he got in a court of law.”

    And there we have it. It’s true because you say it’s true. You have not a single shred of evidence for a single thing you’ve said. You insist on seeing a court record to prove that he changed his name back to Barack but you have never shown a court record — or anything else — to establish that he ever had a legal name change in the first place. That’s pure nonsense.

    And that’s why you birthers have the reputation you have, why people laugh at you. That’s why none of Obama’s political opponents raised birtherism as an issue. That’s why not a single member of Congress objected to the vote of the Electoral College. That’s why, even under Republican control of the House, there is no eligibility investigation. That’s why none of the judges have been impressed. There’s simply no evidence, and you birthers are batting zero. You’ve got nothing, never have.

    Let me tell you a little story. I’ve been talking to a birther recently. This person is a serious birther — he told me he’s been investigating the subject for three years. So and I asked hm what his evidence was. I mean, what’s a better way to find out what the evidence is than to ask someone who’s been investigating for three years to tell me what he’s found? You know, someone who can speak freely, who’s not afraid of being accused of racism, someone who’s not under political pressure. I was ready to hear the straight dope on all the incriminating evidence he’s found after three years.

    And you know what? This person never came up with a single thing! Not a single solitary substantiated fact. Not even one! All I heard about was how the evidence was out there but I was just too lazy to look it up myself. Can you imagine that? After three years he could not point to a single piece of evidence — he just told me it was there and it was my fault for not having found it myself!

    Oh, I guess you can imagine it. That person is you.

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