Perkins Coie Got Obama's Birth Certificate

It fell to a partner from the Washington office of Perkins Coie to obtain a copy of President Barack Obama's original birth certificate.

According to copies of letters released today by White House officials, partner Judith Corley initiated the process last week and planned to travel to Hawaii to pick up two copies. Corley represents the president in his personal matters, a job she assumed last year when Robert Bauer left Perkins Coie to become White House counsel.

Corley wrote to Loretta Fuddy in Hawaii’s state health department on April 22. “I am writing on behalf of my client, President Barack Obama,” the letter begins.

She wrote that Obama long ago requested a copy of a “short form” birth certificate, a computer-generated document that is widely accepted by other government agencies. But Corley wrote to ask for a waiver of health department policy to make available two copies of the original, “long form” birth certificate.

Corley did not return messages requesting comment today, but her letter notes her planned travel to Hawaii. “Pursuant to my client’s authorization,” she wrote, “I will be coming to your offices to pick up the copies of the certificates.”

Also among the White House documents (PDF) is a letter few lawyers can claim to have: an authorization from the president to act on his behalf. Obama wrote a one-paragraph letter authorizing Corley to provide any additional information, pay any fees and arrange for the delivery of copies of the birth certificate.

As Obama’s personal counsel, Corley also handles his required financial disclosure reports but little else, according to a January 2010 interview with The National Law Journal. “He doesn’t have a lot of personal legal issues, which is a good thing, I guess,” Corley said then. “I hope it stays that way.”

She’s been a partner at Seattle-based Perkins Coie since 1994. She represented then-Rep. Dick Gephardt (D-Mo.) during his 1988 and 2004 presidential runs and America Coming Together, a tax-exempt 527 group that opposed President George W. Bush’s re-election.

Update (2:02 p.m.): Bauer confirmed in a news conference today that Corley did travel personally to Honolulu to pick up copies of the birth certificate.

Comments

[let's see]

just one question ... why two copies? one to be left un-adultered for his future use and one to be doctored and released to the public - ? ... just saying

[Jillian]

This is such a trivial thing to debate. The President is a U.S. citizen, plain and simple.

[Jim3K]

Poor Fiddler Bob. Several years ago Harvard has released statement confirming that President Obama graduated summa cum laude from its law school. Why does anyone need to see the transcript. He also graduated wit honors from his high school, Punahou. See this link: http://www.biography.com/articles/Barack-Obama-12782369?part=0

As for your other points, they are mostly nonsense. You have misstated what Obama said in Congress on SR 511; Vattel's treatise is not the law of the land and your other historical references are basically baloney. Certainly they do no support your point--such as it is. Check the 14th Amendment which overrides all the founding father stuff you reference. Then come back when you have graduated summa cum laude from any accredited educational institution. In the meantime please refrain from posting misinformation.

[Just wondering]

FiddlerBob,
SR 511 doesn't say what you say it does.

This whole issue is unsual given McCain's birth overseas in the Panama Canal Zone.

[Ikate]

"Uh, yeah, Michelle Malkin is a serious "journalist." Anyone who comes on a Legal Times site and quotes Michelle Malkin as a source for anything is a troll of the nth order."

And anyone who uses the word "troll" on a Legal Times site is a propagandist from the Democratic Central Committee. President Obama's followers damage his credibility when they respond to critics by demonizing the messenger.

[Wisewoman]

How come no one EVER demanded a birth certificate from all our past Presidents? Answer - because they were white and assumed to automatically be Americans.

Are people really STILL that backward.

[Sherman Dorn]

So Ms. Corley went all the way from DC to Honolulu and back to visit an office... no visit to a beach or anything else?

[Doug Buchanan]

I laugh at those liberals who criticize Michelle Malkin and other conservatives like her. CBS (e.g., Dan Rather), NBC (e.g. Matt Lauer), NY Times, Washington Post are to be respected? Thank God we have other news sources now.

[hm1989]

Since when does a state have a policy against releasing long-form birth certificates? Every member of my family was born in a different state and when each of us had to get a birth certificate to obtain a U.S. Passport, we all received long-form certificates -- there was no talk of "short-form" versus "long-form" or any need for some sort of "waiver."

[Sally]

Has it occurred to anyone that maybe Donald Trump is losing it? My mother has Alzheimers and says crazy things. Maybe this is what's wrong with the Donald.

Sally

[FiddlerBob]

Jay,
You mentioned, "Btw, I wonder if Harvard Law, magna cum laude means anything to the people who ask for Obama's transcripts."

If you were referring to Mr. Obama:

First. Are you saying this of Obama? If so, I wonder how you know this. I haven't seen where Mr. Obama had released any of his college records.

Second, if it's true then you would certainly accept his constitutional argument pertaining to the issue of his own eligibility.

Mr. Obama, as co sponsor of SR 511 regarding Senator John McCain defined "natural born citizen" as one born in the country to two citizen parents. (Granted that he did minimize the importance of place of birth.)

Kudos have to be given to Obama for this astute constitutional interpretation. This definition is consistent with the four related supreme court cases, supporting arguments regarding the 14th amendment, Vattel's treatise on the law of nations (which was a primary reference for our founding fathers), the writings of Ramsey (one of our founders and one of the most recognized historian extant), the Jay treaty, Justice Hugo Black in DUNCAN v LOUISIANA and by Former Attorney General Jeremiah Black and others.

Accepting Mr. Obama's definition is absolutely the correct course of action. However, by accepting this constitutional truism we must also note that Mr. Obama's self proclaimed and stipulated birth under British jurisdiction via his British/Kenyan father, Barrack H. Obama, Sr. automatically disqualifies our current putative president. He is not, has never been and can never be a "natural born citizen".

Obama has openly and freely presented the case against himself.

He must be removed from office immediately along with any and all who have aided in perpetrating his fraud and treason against our nation and our constitution.

[Hugh Mann]

The whole "birther" thing seems pretty silly. Even if Obama had not been born within the borders of the US (or a territory), he would still be a "natural born" US citizen by virtue of his mother's (undisputed, as far as I know) status as a US citizen. You are still a US citizen, if you are born the child of a US citizen - even if that birth takes place outside the borders of the United States.

Should it really be the case that, for instance, a baby born a bit early to a couple of US citizens traveling abroad on vacation should never be able to grow up to be president? How absurd.

[cjklepper]

Isn't ironic, or was the release of the birth certificate timed to put "side show barker" Trump's appearance in New Hampshire? Way to go Obama folks! The release of the birth certificate will show the falae credible of Trump. All mouth and no substance to be a President.

[Jay]

Uh, yeah, Michelle Malkin is a serious "journalist." Anyone who comes on a Legal Times site and quotes Michelle Malkin as a source for anything is a troll of the nth order. The End. Btw, I wonder if Harvard Law, magna cum laude means anything to the people who ask for Obama's transcripts. Note to tinfoil morons - it means you graduated in the top 10% of your class, something that Malkin, Limbaugh, and Donald Trump couldn't do even if they cheated.

[BeanerECMO]

Remember, it is not his "Birth Certificate"; this is the 'long form' of the 'Certificate of Live Birth'. Further, do people realize the ramifications of the issue? I mean that's what the dems always contend, "It's the seriousness of the charge. (Whether there are any facts to back the charge or not; e.g., CBS's forged documents)". Anyway, if it's proven that he wasn't born in the States or one of its territories, then all Executive Orders, laws (appropriations and authorizations), orders sending troops into battle, etc. signed by him are null and void. Now, is that a constitutional crisis, or what?________________________________________
I was a regressive (aka liberal progressive) until I learned to read, got a job and was mugged by willful tax and spend regressives and acolytes; i.e., unions.

[cliff robitelle]

I would think before he ever ran for office (US senator or president) it would had been required for him to provide a certified copy of his birth certificate.

Was it not?

[R_anon]

Few skeletons for Obama???...LOL!!! Just because mainstream media refuses to report anything negative on Obama doesn't mean they don't exist. There are plenty documented in Malkin's Culture of Corruption book released almost 2 years ago, and enough to fill books in the interim time. And it's more difficult to see skeletons when doors are securely kept shut (such as all educational transcripts and records for Obama.) No conservative could've gotten away with this arrogance. Thanks for the laugh.

[Anon1]

Such a fuss about a non-issue for the tin-foil hat people to obfuscate real items & concerns for the country ...

[eagle]

when a conspiracy theory is wrong, they release the evidence to prove that the conspiracy theorists are wrong. But when the conspiracy theorists are right, they pretend not to listen to those theorists at all...
Obama is a good man anyways, he seems to be the only president with least number of skeletons in the closet.

Eagle
http://eseaf.com/blog/author/aureagle