Meet Orly Taitz: Lawyer, Litigant, Dentist, Birther

[WSJ_law_blog]

Once in a while, we’ll come across an article that just simply defies us. It’s typically not that such a piece is too legally complicated to discuss, rather that it stands on its own in some way, defying commentary, a paean to logic-defying strangeness. As such, it typically soars above our meager attempts to make sense of it. At those times, realizing the limitations both of our talents and this bloggy little medium, we think it’s best to stand back and get the heck out of the way.

Such is the case this morning with a Washington Post piece on an Orange County, Calif., woman named Orly Taitz, DDS, Esq. (That’s right: “DDS, Esq.” That is, the Orly Taitz who’s the dentist and the lawyer). All we have the power to do is throw up a few block quotes here, LBers. High in the story is this paragraph:

Emerging into the dry Southern California sunshine, Taitz — dentist, lawyer, wife of a software executive, mother of three and a leading proponent of the so-called birther campaign against President Obama — walks briskly past her law office, which is conveniently beside the dental practice. Inside the law office is a modest conference room with a table, eight chairs, a couple of abstract paintings and a houseplant. It is here that Taitz dreams of deposing the U.S. president, proving that he is a citizen not of this country but of Kenya, maybe, or possibly Indonesia, perhaps even — who knows? — that he is secretly controlled by Saudi Arabia.

And there’s this quote:

“My children are so excited . . . that the president of the United States will have to appear in Mom’s office in Rancho Santa Margarita,” says Taitz, whose English is richly Russian-accented; she grew up in the former Soviet republic of Moldova.

And then there’s this paragraph, followed by another quote:

If you were the producer of an opinionated news show and wanted to book a birther, whom would you choose? A nondescript Pennsylvanian or an excitable Moldovan American lawyer-dentist described by Lincoln, her assistant, as a “fierce blonde” reminiscent of the warrior goddess Athena? Easy call! Today Taitz, 49, is wearing white high-heeled slingbacks; bare legs; a white skirt; black and white shirt; enormous eyelashes; and her characteristic air of charming but ferocious tenacity, part Meg Ryan, part Madame Defarge.

“He is lying about his identity, he is hiding his whole identity, this is dangerous!” says Taitz, looking eagerly toward a judicial ruling on the U.S. government’s motion to dismiss the California case. She is hopeful that this judge will let her go ahead.

The legal angle: Aside from being a lawyer herself, Taitz is an active litigant. She has “drafted voluminous court pleadings, filing at least five Obama-related cases.”

That’s it. We’re done. Outta here. We’ll turn it over to you, LBers.