SCOTUS Procedures and the "Citizenship Case"

by profmatt Thu Dec 04, 2008 at 08:05:17 AM PST

What with all the brouhaha about the (moronic) "Obama Citizenship" cases, time for a primer about how the Supreme Court and lawsuits work.

A federal case begins in a Federal District Court. The trial court hears the case and ultimately makes a final decision on it. Until there is a final decision, you cannot appeal (with very few exceptions). Common final decisions are:

A) A grant of a motion to dismiss, finding that the allegations in the complaint are not enough to state a cause of action. A subset of this is how the "Citizenship" cases were decided--in order to bring a case, you must have "standing"--this means you must show that you, personally, are being or will be harmed. If you lack standing, you can't pursue the case.

Read on...

In case you're wondering what this is about, someone is claiming Obama isn't a naturally born American and therefore can't be president of the United States. Its a nuisance suit that Justice Thomas has, at the very least, kept alive for no obvious reason. Here is some more info on the case. Tom