A Ramona attorney will go into the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday to continue questioning whether President Barack Obama is a United States citizen, in spite of the release of the president's long-form birth certificate this week.
Gary Kreep is executive director of the nonprofit in Ramona. He confirmed for Patch that he is due to appear in the court in Pasadena on Monday morning. He will be joined in the litigation by an attorney who is also a Mission Viejo dentist and Rancho Santa Margarita resident—Orly Taitz. Taitz says she will continue to ask the courts to decide the legitimacy of the president.
According to news reports, Taitz was fined $20,000 by a federal judge in Georgia in 2009 for pressing a lawsuit against Obama's citizenship in that state; she paid the fine, $17,000 of which came from supporters.
A phone message left for Taitz this morning by Mission Viejo Patch was not immediately returned. Various news agencies report Taitz is challenging the birth certificate because Obama's father's race is identified as “African” rather than “Negro.”
“I do have a census from 1960 and the only options are white, Asian or Negro,” Taitz was quoted by City News Service as saying. “I know it's not politically correct today, but in 1961 they did not write the race as African—they would write the race as Negro.”
Kreep is a graduate of UC San Diego in economics and the University of San Diego law school. He has practiced law since 1975, according to the justice foundation's website. In this interview, shown on the website, Kreep describes to a representative from The Western Center for Journalism why he feels the president's birth certificate issue is important. The organization published this story about Obama on its website.
The case is part of Drake vs. Obama, according to a spokesperson for the court. It will be heard by judges Harry Pregerson, Raymond C. Fisher and Marcia Berzon. There are two appeals that have been consolidated for argument. They are case numbers 09-56827 and 10-55084.
The courthouse is at 125 S. Grand Ave., Pasadena, CA 91105. For directions, click here. No cameras will be allowed in the courtroom unless prior approval is obtained. The case is on the 9 a.m. calendar, but it is the third case to be heard in the morning so an exact time of the hearing cannot be reported.
Julie Pendray contributed to this report.
