Sorry, Orly -- judge throws out fake Kenyan birth certificate

Plus: Has the person who created the hoax come forward?

Published August 6, 2009 10:35PM (EDT)

On Saturday, Orly Taitz filed in federal court the forged Kenyan birth certificate for President Obama that she'd discovered. It lasted in the file for less than a week -- on Thursday, a judge ordered the motion that Taitz had submitted stricken from the court record.

There was no hearing on the merits of the motion, or of the purportedly Kenyan document; it was tossed on procedural grounds.

In the order, which can be downloaded in PDF form here, the judge says the motion was improperly filed "for the following reasons: Lacks proper notice; improper form and format; Counsel failed to identify her Cal. State Bar No.; description of motion conflicts or differs from that which counsel entered on Court's e-docket."

Taitz could file another motion, accompanied again by the forged birth certificate -- but she'll have to overcome the mistakes she made with this filing, and that might prove difficult. The electronic court record for the case, in which she's representing Alan Keyes, among others, is filled with similar procedural errors on her part.

Not that it would matter anyway -- the document is a proven fake, and the Australian birth certificate on which it was apparently based has already been discovered. Plus, on Thursday an anonymous person came forward claiming to be the source of the forgery, and with evidence to suggest that it was all a hoax, one designed to further discredit the Birthers.

The claim was posted to FearlessBlogging.com, an anonymous blogging site, under the headline "Birthers Punk'd! Hoax Kenyan Birth Certificate." Included in the post is this text:

Fine cotton business paper: $11

Inkjet printer: $35

1940 Royal Model KMM manual typewriter: $10

2 Shilling coin: $1

Pilot Varsity fountain pen: $3

Punkin' the Birthers: Priceless

Also included in the post are links to four images. One shows a document that looks like the one Taitz filed, accompanied by a typewriter, a box of paper and a coin apparently used to create an official-looking seal. Another shows the paper balled up, and the fourth shows the crinkled and torn document with writing in marker on top of it that reads: "You've been punk'd!"

All four images also contain a red striped blanket that appears similar to the one that served as backdrop for the photo Taitz filed. Salon has examined the images against each other, but has been unable to confirm or disprove their authenticity -- the background in the original photo is too small, and appears to be rotated differently than in the shots posted Thursday.


By Alex Koppelman

Alex Koppelman is a staff writer for Salon.

MORE FROM Alex Koppelman


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Birthers Orly Taitz War Room