A legal document filed Monday in the $20,000 sanctions case against “birther” attorney Orly Taitz creates a lien on all her real property, the notice states.
Contacted Tuesday, Taitz said she won’t give the government the satisfaction of taking her property or potentially her law license and will pay the money, if the U.S. Supreme Court denies her appeals.
The notice, titled “Abstract of Judgment,” is the first step the government has taken to collect the $20,000 plus interest in sanctions U.S. District Court Judge Clay Land imposed on Taitz in October, said Columbus attorney Frank Martin.
“This is a notice that the federal government has put a $20,000 lien plus interest on Orly Taitz,” Martin added. “This lien trumps the Internal Revenue Code. This lien has priority over everything else.”
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The Abstract of Judgment creates a court record, which means the government has a basis to move forward with collecting the sanctions. That could mean the government can force the sale of Taitz’s property or potentially seize her property, Martin said.
“She may can drag it out,” Martin cautioned.
Columbus attorney William Mason said that if Taitz tries to sell any property, the buyer will have to settle the lien.
The interest rate is .36 percent, amounting to $72 on $20,000.
Taitz has represented two people in Columbus who questioned their military orders on arguments that President Barack Obama couldn’t legitimately hold office. It was the case of Capt. Connie Rhodes that led Land to sanction Taitz after he warned her and then gave her a time limit to explain why he shouldn’t fine her.
Taitz appealed the sanctions to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta. That court upheld the sanctions in May, and Taitz sent an application for stay to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas on July 8.
Thomas denied it a week later, and the application was again docketed to the high court on Aug. 4, this time to Justice Samuel Alito.
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 declined on Tuesday to say whether she’ll file a writ, adding that she doesn’t want to discuss legal strategy. And while she’s still waiting to see if Alito will grant her request for stay, and if a representative in Washington, D.C., can verify that Thomas actually signed a document denying her request, she said she would pay the sanctions if the high court refuses her.
“I will pay the money, and I will continue fighting,” Taitz added.
Taitz said on her website, orlytaitzesq.com, that she appreciates donations to help pay the sanctions. As of Tuesday, she had already received more than $500, she states.
“I’m confident that I will get $20,000 from the public, because people are angry and livid,” she added. “I don’t think anyone has ever seen anything like this in the world. I think the government should start worrying who’s in the White House. We have problems that are much bigger than $20,000 in sanctions.”`
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