A request to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito by "birther" attorney Orly Taitz asking that $20,000 in sanctions against her be reversed was referred on Tuesday to the entire court.
U.S. District Court Judge Clay Land imposed the sanctions last year after he warned her and then gave her a time limit to explain why he shouldn't fine her in the September 2009 case of Capt. Connie Rhodes, who questioned the legitimacy of Barack Obama's presidency.
Taitz appealed the sanctions to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta. That court upheld the sanctions in March, and Taitz sent an application for stay to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas on July 8. Thomas denied it a week later.
Taitz then refiled it with Alito on Aug. 4. That request was referred on Tuesday to the entire nine-member court, the Supreme Court's website states.
"He circulated it to the other eight justices and said, 'Does anybody else want to do something with this?'" Columbus attorney William Mason said.
Mason previously has said that Taitz should have filed a writ of certiorari instead of the application for stay, arguing that an application for stay is only done in extraordinary circumstances once a case has been appealed properly by filing a writ.
Taitz has said that one doesn't exclude the other, and on Tuesday declined to say whether she will file a writ with the high court.
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