Obama's Nuremberg
Another case currently before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, however, Barnett v. Obama, may not be stopped by the standing problem, according to United States Justice Foundation Executive Director Gary Kreep. Kreep, author of the Western Center for Journalism amicus curiae brief cited above by the Supreme Court, represents two plaintiffs in the Barnett case.
Kreep explained that one of the plaintiffs in Barnett v. Obama, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Alan Keyes, was a presidential candidate in 2008.
“According to case law, candidates have standing to challenge the eligibility of other candidates,” Kreep told WND. “The Department of Justice, which is handling Obama’s defense, is not even addressing standing. They’re saying it’s a political question,” and therefore shouldn’t be decided by the courts.”
Apuzzo and Kreep both suggested that Supreme Court Justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor should have recused themselves from the Kerchner case.
“We’ve seen Justice Kagan recuse herself in various cases, and here’s a case where she did not recuse herself, and also Justice Sotomayor, which struck me as really odd because they were appointed by President Obama,” said Apuzzo.
“If he’s not eligible to be president, he never was, and it could jeopardize their appointments,” said Kreep. “An argument could have been made that they should have recused themselves.”
“If either of them had anything to do with any of the eligibility decisions, they should have recused themselves,” Kreep added. Kagan, as President Obama’s Solicitor General, was “probably” involved in planning his legal strategy in earlier eligibility cases.
Apuzzo suggested Kagan’s and Sotomayor’s participation might have changed the outcome of the court’s deliberations.
“We don’t know what the vote was,” Apuzzo pointed out. “If it was a dog of a case, you don’t need Kagan’s or Sotomayor’s votes. Why did they leave this ethical cloud hanging in history? For what? For a dog of a case?”
The United States courts of appeals (orcircuit courts) are the intermediateappellate courts of the United States federal court system. A court of appeals decides appeals from the district courts within itsfederal judicial circuit, and in some instances from other designated federal courts and administrative agencies.
There currently are thirteen United States courts of appeals, although there are other tribunals (such as the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, which hears appeals incourt-martial cases) that have “Court of Appeals” in their titles. The eleven “numbered” circuits and the D.C. Circuit are geographically defined. The thirteenth court of appeal is the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which has nationwide jurisdiction over certain appeals based on subject matter. All of the courts of appeals also hear appeals from some administrative agency decisions and rulemaking, with by far the largest share of these cases heard by the D.C. Circuit. The Federal Circuit hears appeals from specialized trial courts, primarily the United States Court of International Trade and the United States Court of Federal Claims, as well as appeals from the district courts in patent cases and certain other specialized matters.
Decisions of the U.S. courts of appeals have been published by the private company West Publishing in the Federal Reporter series since the courts were established. Not every court decision is available, however. Only decisions that the courts designate for publication are included; “unpublished” opinions (of all but the Fifth and Eleventh Circuits) are nevertheless included in West’sFederal Appendix, and are also available in online databases like Lexis or Westlaw. More recently, case decisions are also available electronically on the official websites of the courts themselves.
The circuit with the smallest number of appellate judges is the First Circuit, and the one with the most is the Ninth Circuit. The number of judges Congress has authorized for each circuit is set forth in the U.S. Code (U.S.C.) at Title 28, Section 44.
Although the courts of appeals are frequently referred to as “circuit courts”, they should not be confused with the historical United States circuit courts, which existed from 1789 to 1911 and were primarily trial courts.
Case: 10-55084 10/13/2010 Page: 1 of 34 ID: 7507426 DktEntry: 26-1
WILEY S. DRAKE, et al., Plaintiffs/Appellants,
) NO. 09-56827 ) ) D.C. No. 8:09-CV-00082-DOC ) Central District of California ) Santa Ana )
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
v. BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA, et al., )
Defendants/Appellees. )
PPAMELA BARNETT, Captain, et al., Plaintiffs/Appellants,
) NO. 10-55084 ) ) D.C. No. 8:09-CV-00082-DOC ) Central District of California ) Santa Ana )
v. BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA, et al., )
Defendants/Appellees. )
APPELLEES’ ANSWERING BRIEF
