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patgund25 October - According to the right-wing site "America's First", (which has been very fair in their coverage of this lawsuit), R. Barclay Surrick has dismissed the lawsuit that Philip J. Berg has brought against the DNC, FEC, and Sen. Obama's campaign.
Let me repeat, the lawsuit have been **DISMISSED**.
The order and memorandum was at 6:15pm EST on 24 October 2008, and as expected, was dismissed due to lack of standing.
Surrick dinged Berg over the nature of evidence produced. Quote:
Berg, as expected, is planning an appeal to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals and then to the United States Supreme Court.
Also:
Judge rejects Montco lawyer's bid to have Obama removed from ballot
Let me repeat, the lawsuit have been **DISMISSED**.
The order and memorandum was at 6:15pm EST on 24 October 2008, and as expected, was dismissed due to lack of standing.
Surrick dinged Berg over the nature of evidence produced. Quote:
"…regardless of questions of causation, the grievance remains too generalized to establish the existence of an injury in fact. To reiterate: a candidate’s ineligibility under the Natural Born Citizen Clause does not result in an injury in fact to voters. By extension, the theoretical constitutional harm experienced by voters does not change as the candidacy of an allegedly ineligible candidate progresses from the primaries to the general election."
Berg, as expected, is planning an appeal to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals and then to the United States Supreme Court.
Also:
Judge rejects Montco lawyer's bid to have Obama removed from ballot
"U.S. District Judge R. Barclay Surrick had denied Berg's request for a temporary restraining order on Aug. 22 but had not ruled on the merits of the suit until yesterday.
Obama and the Democratic National Committee had asked Surrick to dismiss Berg's complaint in a court filing on Sept. 24.
They said that Berg's claims were "ridiculous" and "patently false," that Berg had "no standing" to challenge the qualifications of a candidate for president because he had not shown the requisite harm to himself.
Surrick agreed.
In a 34-page memorandum and opinion, the judge said Berg's allegations of harm were "too vague and too attenuated" to confer standing on him or any other voters.
Surrick ruled that Berg's attempts to use certain laws to gain standing to pursue his claim that Obama was not a natural-born citizen were "frivolous and not worthy of discussion."
The judge also said the harm Berg alleged did "not constitute an injury in fact" and Berg's arguments to the contrary "ventured into the unreasonable."
