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Fla. Judge Considers Dismissing Obama Citizenship Challenge

Larry Klayman and Michael Voeltz
Jessica Palombo
/
WFSU-FM

A Florida judge is deciding whether to dismiss a case challenging President Barack Obama’s citizenship. In a hearing on Monday, conservative legal activist Larry Klayman argued that Obama should be kept off the Florida ballot this November.

In Florida’s Second Judicial Circuit Court, Klayman argued on behalf of plaintiff Michael Voeltz, a registered Democrat from Fort Lauderdale. Klayman said the president is not a natural-born citizen because his father was not a U.S. citizen.

“President Obama, and this is one of the examples that I gave, has just signed an executive order, and whether or not you agree with that executive order or not, allowing students whose visas have expired, who are here illegally, not to be deported," he said. "And that’s the exact same situation that occurred with the president’s father, Barack Hussein Obama Senior."

But Mr. Obama’s birth certificate shows he was born in Hawaii, which would make him a U.S. citizen. Lawyers for the President and the Florida Department of State asked Judge Terry Lewis to dismiss the case on the grounds that Obama's candidacy can't be challenged at all, considering he won't officially be the Democratic nominee until after the Democratic National Convention in September.