Birtherism is indeed idiotic and racist, and Orly Taitz is its patron saint in both respects—but on purely legal grounds (I am an attorney, FWIW), I’m not so convinced that this particular litigation is horrific. Maybe I’m biased in a weird way, because part of my job is defending clients against obviously frivolous and stupid lawsuits—and this one is considerably less blatantly stupid than several I’ve litigated.

Anyway, Obama has filed to run for President in Georgia, as well as the other 49 states. Georgia statutes, as I understand them (not much—I don’t practice there) allow citizens to challenge the eligibility of candidates for elected office in an administrative-court proceeding. What happened here is that a Georgia citizen who’s an ally of Taitz filed a complaint alleging that Obama doesn’t meet one or more of the eligibility requirements for President (to wit: (a) natural born citizen of the United States; (b) at least thirty-five years old; and (c) permanent resident in the United States for at least fourteen years). As is the case with any candidate, the complaint forces the candidate to produce evidence that he is in fact eligible.

Next, attorney (ugh) Taitz served Obama’s campaign counsel a subpoena seeking the presence of Obama himself at the hearing. Obama’s attorneys then filed a motion to quash that subpoena, and if the judge’s memorandum opinion is any indication, they did a fairly poor job, raising much weaker arguments than they could and should have. The Georgia administrative judge denied the motion.

At this point, the AP bungled the story, reporting that “A judge has ordered President Barack Obama to appear in court in Atlanta”—a sentence (like the story that followed it) that implied that the judge has mandated that Obama himself attend the hearing. (Frankly, the motion to quash from Obama’s counsel made the same mistaken presumption.) But that’s bullshit. All the judge has done is refuse to quash the subpoena—that’s not a court order mandating personal appearance; it’s just a refusal to destroy the subpoena. We’re just back where we started, with Obama having been served with a subpoena to appear in the case. Again, contrary to the A.P.’s implication, the Georgia judge has not ordered Obama to personally appear in his (administrative) court.

Here’s what I suspect will happen next: Obama’s campaign counsel will appear in the Georgia administrative tribunal on the prescribed date bearing plenty of documentary evidence (prominently including a certified copy of the President’s Hawaiian birth certificate) that he meets the eligibility requirements for the Presidency.

Taitz could perhaps pitch a fit that Obama has defied her subpoena by refusing to show up himself, but if so that merely places the onus on her to file a motion to compel the President’s appearance. I wouldn’t at all put it past her—but what, pray tell, would be the grounds for such a motion? Why does the litigation in question require the President’s personal presence in the administrative hearing room? How does she expect said presence to help her case?

Then, on the merits, I can’t see how Taitz doesn’t lose the case immediately. There’s nothing the slightest bit suspicious or out-of-the-ordinary about (1) an individual party in civil litigation appearing at a hearing via counsel rather than in person or (2) a party proving residence, “natural-born” status, etc., via a certified copy of a birth certificate. The complainant in the case has disputed Obama’s eligibility; his counsel can produce more-than-sufficient documentary evidence demonstrating eligibility; ergo the complainant loses. Q.E.D.

Now, if the judge demands a standard of proof vastly beyond what’s ordinarily required in civil court—say, if he actually takes birthers’ fairy tales about forged birth certificates, etc., seriously—there could be trouble. And at that point the judge will deserve the scorn that Jason and others are heaping on him. (And Obama’s counsel will appeal.) But not yet.

Perhaps next, they could demand that he prove that he did not travel to Mars via secret teleportation mission, a la Stargate.

Shhh .. Don’t give the Presidents true nature and drakest secrets away!

Also don’t go giving them any (more) ideas.