re: #12 drcordell

In all seriousness, I really am wondering how exactly this is going to play out. Suppose during his court martial, he actually manages to successfully subpoena proof of Obama’s citizenship. Not sure if that could actually happen, but suppose it does. So Hawaii provides a copy, which is then officially recognized by the U.S. Military as legitimate. Where can the wingnuts possibly take it from there?

Some of the RW blog interest in this case seems to extend well beyond the birth certificate with fantasies of trial discovery allowing for trolling through reams of private and presidential documents (which many seem to believe will expose all sorts of embarrassing facts and criminality that the President has barely kept from sight :P).

Fox’s article from a few days back on Lt. Col Lakin came at it from that angle — the chances of a discovery fishing expedition — and they seemed to pour cold water on the idea:

… legal experts say he apparently made his decision to proceed to a court-martial without the advice of experienced counsel.

One military attorney said Lakin had advice from a lawyer, Paul Rolf Jensen, but that Jensen had “only three months’ experience in military law as a clerk in the 1980s” and was not an expert in military law. Jensen did not return a phone call seeking comment, but military experts called Lakin’s effort a tragedy and waste.

“He is likely to lose everything and accomplish nothing,” one attorney lamented. “No military judge will say that (obtaining documents) of the president is necessary to prove the charges,” said Philip D. Cave, a Washington attorney and director of the National Institute of Military Justice.

Cave said that the validity of Lakin’s orders, under military law, does not depend on the president but on the chain of command. “He will be convicted and is in jeopardy of dismissal,” he said.

Dismissal, for a military officer, is the same as a dishonorable discharge for an enlisted servicemember.

“We all feel saddened,” said David Price, a former captain and 25-year veteran of the Navy Judge Advocate General’s office, now in private practice.

“He was issued an order to deploy and didn’t. End of issue,” he said. He said the military has dealt with these types of cases since Vietnam, when soldiers tried to make larger political issues the basis of their trials, and is experienced at keeping the proceedings free of politics.

Price also said that if the case does finally get to a general court-martial and a judge is asked to approve discovery requests by the defense, it is unlikely that it would be allowed to encompass the presidency. He said this wasn’t because of a conspiracy, but because the case is relatively simple and doesn’t require it.

Gary Myers, a former military lawyer who now heads a Washington firm specializing in military law, says he “just shook my head” when he heard about the case “I think [Lakin] is out of his mind” for thinking he could challenge the president this way, he said.