Andy Martin (U.S. politician)
Encyclopedia
Anthony Robert Martin-Trigona, usually known as Andy Martin (born 1945) is an American perennial candidate
for political office and recurrent litigant.
The Nation
, The Washington Post
, and The New York Times
identified him as the primary source of false rumors
that then-presidential candidate Barack Obama
was secretly a Muslim. In a later interview with CNN
, Martin explicitly abandoned this view and now asserts Obama's real father is not Barack Obama, Sr.
, but African American
journalist Frank Marshall Davis
.
On October 17, 2008, Martin filed a lawsuit
against the state of Hawaii
calling for the public release of Barack Obama's birth certificate
and other vital record
s. To counter rumors that Obama is not a natural-born citizen
of the United States, the Obama campaign previously posted an image of his short-form birth certificate online. Martin's lawsuit sought a copy of Sen. Obama's long-form birth certificate. The Hawaii Supreme Court later denied Martin's request.
. His father, Ralph Beneducci Martin-Trigona, was of Italian, Maltese, and English descent, and his mother, Helen Anthony (née Vasiliou), was Greek American. He received a B.A.
from the University of Illinois
in 1966, and a J.D.
from that institution in 1969.
In 1973 the Illinois Supreme Court refused to grant Martin a license to practice law in the state due to such conduct as attempting to have a parking violation thrown out because it had been "entered by an insane judge" and for commenting that an attorney, who suffers from a mild case of cerebral palsy, was "shaking and tottering and drooling like an idiot." The court also cited Martin's Selective Service record, which attributed to him a "moderately severe character defect manifested by well-documented ideation with a paranoid
flavor and a grandiose character." Martin holds that the remark was written out of spite by an evaluator with whom he had a dispute.
Martin then became involved in consumer advocacy and referred to himself as "the people's attorney general". He took credit for being the first to file suit under the civil component of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act
(RICO), as well as the first to file antitrust
actions against the Big Three television networks
for anticompetitive practices in network affiliation agreements.
Paul Douglas
in the summer of 1966. In 1977, he ran in a special election for mayor of Chicago
, but lost to acting mayor Michael Bilandic.
Over the years, he has run for various offices in Connecticut, Florida
and Illinois as a Democrat
, a Republican
and an independent. Among them:
His 1996 run for the Florida State Senate came unraveled when it was revealed that he had named his campaign committee for his 1986 congressional run "The Anthony R. Martin-Trigona Congressional Campaign to Exterminate Jew Power in America." The revelation led the state Republican Party to renounce him. Just before the election, he assaulted two cameramen from WPTV, the NBC
affiliate in West Palm Beach. He was convicted of criminal mischief
and sentenced to a year in jail. He was freed pending appeal, but made personal attacks on the judge while on the way out of the courtroom. The judge held Martin in criminal contempt of court
and sentenced him to seven months in jail. However, he was let out of jail after only a month due to a "paperwork glitch". Martin never returned, and a warrant
was issued for his arrest. If he is ever arrested, he will have to serve 16 months in jail. The warrant was still outstanding at least as of the time of Martin's 2008 Senate run, but he said the issue is being "resolved."
During his 2000 run for president, he accused George W. Bush
of using cocaine
. In 2003, several months before Saddam Hussein
was captured, he claimed to have found the former Iraq
i dictator's hideout.
Martin was a 2010 Republican candidate for U.S. Senator
in Illinois for the seat being vacated by Sen. Roland Burris
. In December 2009, Martin ran radio ads which included Martin requesting that one of his primary opponents, Congressman Mark Kirk
, answer claims about his sexuality made by another primary candidate, Jack Roeser
. In response, the state Republican Party announced that Martin would no longer be recognized as a legitimate candidate. Martin returned 37,359 votes, five percent of the total votes. He attempted to run for the U.S. Senate in the general election as a member of the Reform Party of Illinois, but he did not qualify for the ballot.
, observed that he had a tendency to file "a substantial number of lawsuits of a vexatious, frivolous and scandalous nature." A number of these filings were allegedly anti-Semitic in nature. In a 1983 bankruptcy case, he filed a motion calling the presiding judge "a crooked, slimy Jew who has a history of lying and thieving common to members of his race." In another motion that year, Martin stated, "I am able to understand how the Holocaust
took place, and with every passing day feel less and less sorry that it did." He went on to say that "Jew survivors are operating as a wolf pack to steal my property." When later pressed in an interview about his remarks, Martin claimed that the anti-Semitic comments were inserted into his court papers by malicious judges.
In 1983, Jose Cabranes, a federal judge for the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut
, issued a sweeping injunction
barring Martin or anyone acting "at his behest, at his direction or instigation, or in concert with him" from filing any new action or proceeding in any federal or state court without first seeking permission from the court in which he wished to file that action or proceeding. In his ruling, Cabranes noted that Martin had a tendency to file legal actions with "persistence, viciousness, and general disregard for decency and logic." According to Cabranes, Martin's practice was to file "an incessant stream of frivolous or meritless motions, demands, letters to the court and other documents," as well as "vexatious lawsuits" against anyone who dared cross him, including court personnel and their families. For instance, in the midst of the proceeding, Martin sued Judge Cabranes himself, along with the judge's wife. Martin then sought, unsuccessfully, to have Cabranes recused.
On appeal from Judge Cabranes' ruling, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals
limited the scope of the injunction to federal courts, but stated that the federal courts were constitutionally obligated to protect themselves and the administration of justice from vexatious litigants like Martin.
Since then, Martin has continued his pattern of filing legal actions. He has repeatedly been cited for contempt for violating the federal injunction. The United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida
estimated that he has filed thousands of proceedings over the years. In 1993 the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals
determined that his mother was acting in concert with him by filing a federal civil rights action against several Florida state officials. The court noted similar wording in the suit filed by Martin's mother and a petition filed by Martin himself. In throwing out the suit, the Eleventh Circuit called Martin "a notoriously vexatious and vindictive litigator who has long abused the American legal system." Most recently, a libel and invasion of privacy
suit against Media Matters
and its founder, David Brock
, was dismissed with prejudice because Martin had violated the terms of the injunction.
Martin has been sanctioned at the state level as well. He is banned from seeking indigent status in Florida courts due to his history of filing abusive petitions. Martin is also prohibited from filing lawsuits in New York, unless represented by an attorney or with the court's prior approval.
for The Nation, Martin issued a press release shortly after Obama's keynote speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention
that he had evidence Obama "lied to the American people" and "misrepresent[ed] his own heritage." Martin claimed that Obama was really a Muslim
, was possibly hiding this fact "to endanger Israel
," and that "[Obama's] Muslim religion would obviously raise serious questions in many Jewish circles."
Within a few days, the conservative site Free Republic
picked up Martin's press release, triggering a long discussion. However, according to Hayes, the issue went dormant after Obama's election to the Senate, only to pick up again in 2006 as rumors spread that Obama was considering a presidential run. In October, a conservative blog
, Infidel Bloggers Alliance, reposted Martin's press release in response to a question about Obama's heritage. Then, on December 26, conservative activist Ted Sampley, co-founder of Vietnam Veterans Against John Kerry
, posted a column suggesting Obama was a closeted
Muslim, heavily quoting Martin's original press release. According to Hayes, the first of many emails suggesting Obama was a Muslim was forwarded to Snopes within hours of Sampley's story. Hayes believes that the email was likely a slightly altered version of the Sampley article, which was in turn heavily based on Martin's 2004 press release. Martin told Hayes that he got numerous calls once the emails began circulating. When the callers asked him if he wrote the release, Martin replied, "They are all my children."
On June 28, 2008 Martin told the Washington Post that he wasn't "trying to smear anybody," but that it was "just an underreported story."
Jerome Corsi
's book The Obama Nation, published on August 1, 2008, opens with a quote from Andy Martin on Obama's alleged Muslim heritage and supposed attempts to conceal it. Jim Rutenberg of The New York Times
says that the book has been "widely discredited".
On October 5, 2008, Martin was featured as a "journalist" on Hannity's America
of the Fox News Channel
. According to The New York Times, "The program allowed Mr. Martin to assert falsely and without challenge that Mr. Obama had once trained to overthrow the government." In a subsequent appearance on Hannity & Colmes
, Robert Gibbs
, Obama's communications director, criticized Hannity for allowing Martin to appear on the show.
Fox Senior Vice President Bill Shine
later retracted support for Martin as a guest: "Having that guy on was a mistake. We obviously didn't do enough research on who the guest was."
network's American Morning
program on October 27, 2008, Andy Martin explicitly abandoned his view that Barack Obama is a Muslim. In the interview, Martin asserts a newer view that Obama is not the son of Barack Obama, Sr.
, but is rather the son of Frank Marshall Davis
, an African American
journalist and political activist who wrote for a newspaper in Hawaii in the 1940s and 1950s that was accused by the House Un-American Activities Committee
as being a front for the Communist Party USA
. Martin claimed that he discovered this after his recent trip to Honolulu, although he offered CNN no substantive proof for the claim.
On October 17, 2008, Martin filed a lawsuit in a state circuit court
of Hawaii
against Governor Linda Lingle
and health department director Dr. Chiyome Fukino seeking to verify the state's official birth certificate
of Barack Obama. Months before this suit, the Obama campaign posted an image of his short-form birth certificate online. Martin's lawsuit sought to order the state to release a copy of Sen. Obama's long-form birth certificate.
The short-form birth certificate that the Obama campaign posted online states that his date of birth as August 4, 1961, his place of birth as Honolulu, Hawaii, and other details. Martin was quoted as saying, "I want to see a certified copy issued by the state of Hawai'i, not one issued by the state of Obama."
Hawaii State Department and Health spokeswoman Janice Okubo stated that only people with a "tangible relationship" to Barack Obama can access a copy of his birth certificate, adding that a 1949 law "was enacted primarily to protect your private information, especially in these days where there's ID theft." Attorney General Mark Bennett stated that he has not seen the lawsuit and cannot comment on it, but says that according to Hawaii Revised Statutes it is unlawful to release vital record
s to anyone except individuals listed in state records as having close relations with Obama (i.e. a spouse, parents, descendants, or someone with a common ancestor). In regard to a designee representing Obama, Okubo says "If someone from Obama's campaign gave us permission in person and presented some kind of verification that he or she was Obama's designee, we could release the vital record."
On October 22, 2008, in a Honolulu court proceeding overseen by the Honorable Bert I. Ayabe of the First Circuit of the Supreme Court of Hawaii, the court denied Martin's petition No. 29414 for a writ of mandamus to order the release of Obama's vital records. The official document of the original proceedings states:
A further hearing was held on November 18. On November 19, the court denied Martin's "emergency motion" and dismissed Martin's lawsuit, based on Martin's lack of legal standing
to obtain another person's birth document.
Perennial candidate
A perennial candidate is one who frequently runs for public office with a record of success that is infrequent, if existent at all. Perennial candidates are often either members of minority political parties or have political opinions that are not mainstream. They may run without any serious hope...
for political office and recurrent litigant.
The Nation
The Nation
The Nation is the oldest continuously published weekly magazine in the United States. The periodical, devoted to politics and culture, is self-described as "the flagship of the left." Founded on July 6, 1865, It is published by The Nation Company, L.P., at 33 Irving Place, New York City.The Nation...
, The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
, and The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
identified him as the primary source of false rumors
Barack Obama religion conspiracy theories
Barack Obama religion conspiracy theories—allegations that he secretly follows a non-Christian religion, or that he is the antichrist—have been suggested ever since Barack Obama began his campaign to become President of the United States in 2007...
that then-presidential candidate Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
was secretly a Muslim. In a later interview with CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
, Martin explicitly abandoned this view and now asserts Obama's real father is not Barack Obama, Sr.
Barack Obama, Sr.
Barack Hussein Obama, Sr. was a Kenyan senior governmental economist and the father of U.S. President Barack Obama. He is a central subject in his son's memoir, Dreams from My Father.-Early life:...
, but African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
journalist Frank Marshall Davis
Frank Marshall Davis
Frank Marshall Davis was an American journalist, poet, and political and labor movement activist.-Early life:...
.
On October 17, 2008, Martin filed a lawsuit
Lawsuit
A lawsuit or "suit in law" is a civil action brought in a court of law in which a plaintiff, a party who claims to have incurred loss as a result of a defendant's actions, demands a legal or equitable remedy. The defendant is required to respond to the plaintiff's complaint...
against the state of Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
calling for the public release of Barack Obama's birth certificate
Birth certificate
A birth certificate is a vital record that documents the birth of a child. The term "birth certificate" can refer to either the original document certifying the circumstances of the birth or to a certified copy of or representation of the ensuing registration of that birth...
and other vital record
Vital record
Vital records are records of life events kept under governmental authority, including birth certificates, marriage licenses, and death certificates. In some jurisdictions, vital records may also include records of civil unions or domestic partnerships....
s. To counter rumors that Obama is not a natural-born citizen
Natural-born citizen
Status as a natural-born citizen of the United States is one of the eligibility requirements established in the United States Constitution for election to the office of President or Vice President...
of the United States, the Obama campaign previously posted an image of his short-form birth certificate online. Martin's lawsuit sought a copy of Sen. Obama's long-form birth certificate. The Hawaii Supreme Court later denied Martin's request.
Life and career
Martin was born in 1945 in Middletown, ConnecticutMiddletown, Connecticut
Middletown is a city located in Middlesex County, Connecticut, along the Connecticut River, in the central part of the state, 16 miles south of Hartford. In 1650, it was incorporated as a town under its original Indian name, Mattabeseck. It received its present name in 1653. In 1784, the central...
. His father, Ralph Beneducci Martin-Trigona, was of Italian, Maltese, and English descent, and his mother, Helen Anthony (née Vasiliou), was Greek American. He received a B.A.
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
from the University of Illinois
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
The University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign is a large public research-intensive university in the state of Illinois, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Illinois system...
in 1966, and a J.D.
Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor is a professional doctorate and first professional graduate degree in law.The degree was first awarded by Harvard University in the United States in the late 19th century and was created as a modern version of the old European doctor of law degree Juris Doctor (see etymology and...
from that institution in 1969.
In 1973 the Illinois Supreme Court refused to grant Martin a license to practice law in the state due to such conduct as attempting to have a parking violation thrown out because it had been "entered by an insane judge" and for commenting that an attorney, who suffers from a mild case of cerebral palsy, was "shaking and tottering and drooling like an idiot." The court also cited Martin's Selective Service record, which attributed to him a "moderately severe character defect manifested by well-documented ideation with a paranoid
Paranoia
Paranoia [] is a thought process believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety or fear, often to the point of irrationality and delusion. Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs, or beliefs of conspiracy concerning a perceived threat towards oneself...
flavor and a grandiose character." Martin holds that the remark was written out of spite by an evaluator with whom he had a dispute.
Martin then became involved in consumer advocacy and referred to himself as "the people's attorney general". He took credit for being the first to file suit under the civil component of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act
Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act
The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, commonly referred to as the RICO Act or simply RICO, is a United States federal law that provides for extended criminal penalties and a civil cause of action for acts performed as part of an ongoing criminal organization...
(RICO), as well as the first to file antitrust
Antitrust
The United States antitrust law is a body of laws that prohibits anti-competitive behavior and unfair business practices. Antitrust laws are intended to encourage competition in the marketplace. These competition laws make illegal certain practices deemed to hurt businesses or consumers or both,...
actions against the Big Three television networks
Big Three Television Networks
The Big Three Television Networks are the three traditional commercial broadcast television networks in the United States: ABC, CBS and NBC...
for anticompetitive practices in network affiliation agreements.
Political campaigns
Martin grew up as a Democrat, and served as an intern to SenatorUnited States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
Paul Douglas
Paul Douglas
Paul Howard Douglas was an liberal American politician and University of Chicago economist. A war hero, he was elected as a Democratic U.S. Senator from Illinois from in the 1948 landslide, serving until his defeat in 1966...
in the summer of 1966. In 1977, he ran in a special election for mayor of Chicago
Mayor of Chicago
The Mayor of Chicago is the chief executive of Chicago, Illinois, the third largest city in the United States. He or she is charged with directing city departments and agencies, and with the advice and consent of the Chicago City Council, appoints department and agency leaders.-Appointment...
, but lost to acting mayor Michael Bilandic.
Over the years, he has run for various offices in Connecticut, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
and Illinois as a Democrat
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
, a Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
and an independent. Among them:
- U.S. Senator from Illinois, 1978 (Democratic primary)
- U.S. Senator from Illinois, 1980 (Democratic primary)
- U.S. HouseUnited States House of RepresentativesThe United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
from Connecticut, 1986 (Republican primary) - President of the United StatesPresident of the United StatesThe President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
, 1988 (Democratic primary) - Governor of Florida, 1990 (Republican primary)
- U.S. House from Florida, 1992 (Republican primary)
- Florida State Senate, 1996 (unsuccessful Republican nominee)
- U.S. Senator from Florida, 1998 (Republican primary)
- President of the United States, 2000 (Republican primary)
- U.S. Senator from Florida, 2000 (unsuccessful independent candidate)
- U.S. Senator from Illinois, 2004 (Republican primary, removed from ballot according to Illinois State Board of Elections)
- U.S. Senator from Florida, 2004 (Republican primary)
- Governor of IllinoisGovernor of IllinoisThe Governor of Illinois is the chief executive of the State of Illinois and the various agencies and departments over which the officer has jurisdiction, as prescribed in the state constitution. It is a directly elected position, votes being cast by popular suffrage of residents of the state....
, 2006 (Republican primary) - U.S. Senator from Illinois, 2008 (Republican primary)
- U.S. Senator from Illinois, 2010 (Republican primary)
- President of the United States, 2012 (Republican primary)
His 1996 run for the Florida State Senate came unraveled when it was revealed that he had named his campaign committee for his 1986 congressional run "The Anthony R. Martin-Trigona Congressional Campaign to Exterminate Jew Power in America." The revelation led the state Republican Party to renounce him. Just before the election, he assaulted two cameramen from WPTV, the NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
affiliate in West Palm Beach. He was convicted of criminal mischief
Mischief
Mischief is a vexatious or annoying action, or, conduct or activity that playfully causes petty annoyance. Young children, when they hear of mischief, think of practical jokes....
and sentenced to a year in jail. He was freed pending appeal, but made personal attacks on the judge while on the way out of the courtroom. The judge held Martin in criminal contempt of court
Contempt of court
Contempt of court is a court order which, in the context of a court trial or hearing, declares a person or organization to have disobeyed or been disrespectful of the court's authority...
and sentenced him to seven months in jail. However, he was let out of jail after only a month due to a "paperwork glitch". Martin never returned, and a warrant
Arrest warrant
An arrest warrant is a warrant issued by and on behalf of the state, which authorizes the arrest and detention of an individual.-Canada:Arrest warrants are issued by a judge or justice of the peace under the Criminal Code of Canada....
was issued for his arrest. If he is ever arrested, he will have to serve 16 months in jail. The warrant was still outstanding at least as of the time of Martin's 2008 Senate run, but he said the issue is being "resolved."
During his 2000 run for president, he accused George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
of using cocaine
Cocaine
Cocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine. It is a stimulant of the central nervous system, an appetite suppressant, and a topical anesthetic...
. In 2003, several months before Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
was captured, he claimed to have found the former Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
i dictator's hideout.
Martin was a 2010 Republican candidate for U.S. Senator
United States Senate elections in Illinois, 2010
The 2010 United States Senate elections in Illinois took place on November 2, 2010. There were 2 ballot items for the same seat: a routine one, to fill the Class 3 seat beginning with the 112th United States Congress beginning on January 3, 2011, and a special item, to fill that seat for the final...
in Illinois for the seat being vacated by Sen. Roland Burris
Roland Burris
Roland Wallace Burris is a former United States Senator from the state of Illinois and a member of the Democratic Party....
. In December 2009, Martin ran radio ads which included Martin requesting that one of his primary opponents, Congressman Mark Kirk
Mark Kirk
Mark Steven Kirk is the junior United States Senator from Illinois and a member of the Republican Party. Previously, Kirk was a member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Illinois's 10th congressional district....
, answer claims about his sexuality made by another primary candidate, Jack Roeser
Jack Roeser
Jack Roeser is an engineer, inventor, entrepreneur, businessman and more recently a civic leader and candidate for elected office....
. In response, the state Republican Party announced that Martin would no longer be recognized as a legitimate candidate. Martin returned 37,359 votes, five percent of the total votes. He attempted to run for the U.S. Senate in the general election as a member of the Reform Party of Illinois, but he did not qualify for the ballot.
Litigation and anti-semitism allegations
Over the years, Martin has filed numerous lawsuits. Edward Weinfeld, a federal judge for the Southern District of New YorkUnited States District Court for the Southern District of New York
The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York is a federal district court. Appeals from the Southern District of New York are taken to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (in case...
, observed that he had a tendency to file "a substantial number of lawsuits of a vexatious, frivolous and scandalous nature." A number of these filings were allegedly anti-Semitic in nature. In a 1983 bankruptcy case, he filed a motion calling the presiding judge "a crooked, slimy Jew who has a history of lying and thieving common to members of his race." In another motion that year, Martin stated, "I am able to understand how the Holocaust
The Holocaust
The Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...
took place, and with every passing day feel less and less sorry that it did." He went on to say that "Jew survivors are operating as a wolf pack to steal my property." When later pressed in an interview about his remarks, Martin claimed that the anti-Semitic comments were inserted into his court papers by malicious judges.
In 1983, Jose Cabranes, a federal judge for the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut
United States District Court for the District of Connecticut
The United States District Court for the District of Connecticut is the Federal district court whose jurisdiction is the state of Connecticut. The court has offices in Bridgeport, Hartford and New Haven. Appeals from the court are heard by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit...
, issued a sweeping injunction
Injunction
An injunction is an equitable remedy in the form of a court order that requires a party to do or refrain from doing certain acts. A party that fails to comply with an injunction faces criminal or civil penalties and may have to pay damages or accept sanctions...
barring Martin or anyone acting "at his behest, at his direction or instigation, or in concert with him" from filing any new action or proceeding in any federal or state court without first seeking permission from the court in which he wished to file that action or proceeding. In his ruling, Cabranes noted that Martin had a tendency to file legal actions with "persistence, viciousness, and general disregard for decency and logic." According to Cabranes, Martin's practice was to file "an incessant stream of frivolous or meritless motions, demands, letters to the court and other documents," as well as "vexatious lawsuits" against anyone who dared cross him, including court personnel and their families. For instance, in the midst of the proceeding, Martin sued Judge Cabranes himself, along with the judge's wife. Martin then sought, unsuccessfully, to have Cabranes recused.
On appeal from Judge Cabranes' ruling, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals
United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals...
limited the scope of the injunction to federal courts, but stated that the federal courts were constitutionally obligated to protect themselves and the administration of justice from vexatious litigants like Martin.
Since then, Martin has continued his pattern of filing legal actions. He has repeatedly been cited for contempt for violating the federal injunction. The United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida
United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida
The United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida is the federal United States district court with jurisdiction over the southern part of the state of Florida....
estimated that he has filed thousands of proceedings over the years. In 1993 the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals
United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts:* Middle District of Alabama...
determined that his mother was acting in concert with him by filing a federal civil rights action against several Florida state officials. The court noted similar wording in the suit filed by Martin's mother and a petition filed by Martin himself. In throwing out the suit, the Eleventh Circuit called Martin "a notoriously vexatious and vindictive litigator who has long abused the American legal system." Most recently, a libel and invasion of privacy
Invasion of privacy
United States privacy law embodies several different legal concepts. One is the invasion of privacy, a tort based in common law allowing an aggrieved party to bring a lawsuit against an individual who unlawfully intrudes into his or her private affairs, discloses his or her private information,...
suit against Media Matters
Media Matters for America
Media Matters for America is a politically progressive media watchdog group which says it is "dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media." Set up as a 501 non-profit organization, MMfA was founded in 2004 by journalist and...
and its founder, David Brock
David Brock
David Brock is an American journalist and author, the founder of the media watchdog group, Media Matters for America, and a Democratic political operative...
, was dismissed with prejudice because Martin had violated the terms of the injunction.
Martin has been sanctioned at the state level as well. He is banned from seeking indigent status in Florida courts due to his history of filing abusive petitions. Martin is also prohibited from filing lawsuits in New York, unless represented by an attorney or with the court's prior approval.
Allegations of Obama being a Muslim
According to a report by journalist Chris HayesChristopher Hayes (journalist)
Christopher L. "Chris" Hayes is an American broadcaster, journalist and liberal political commentator. Hayes hosts Up with Chris Hayes, a weekend news and opinion television show on MSNBC. Hayes had formerly been a frequent guest host and commentator on shows such as The Rachel Maddow Show and...
for The Nation, Martin issued a press release shortly after Obama's keynote speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention
2004 Democratic National Convention
The 2004 Democratic National Convention convened from July 26 to July 29, 2004 at the FleetCenter in Boston, Massachusetts, and nominated John Kerry and John Edwards as the official candidates of the Democratic Party for President and Vice President of the United States, respectively, in the 2004...
that he had evidence Obama "lied to the American people" and "misrepresent[ed] his own heritage." Martin claimed that Obama was really a Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
, was possibly hiding this fact "to endanger Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
," and that "[Obama's] Muslim religion would obviously raise serious questions in many Jewish circles."
Within a few days, the conservative site Free Republic
Free Republic
Free Republic is a moderated Internet forum for activists, and chat site for self-described conservatives, primarily within the United States. It presents articles and comments posted pseudonymously by registered members, known as "Freepers", using screen names...
picked up Martin's press release, triggering a long discussion. However, according to Hayes, the issue went dormant after Obama's election to the Senate, only to pick up again in 2006 as rumors spread that Obama was considering a presidential run. In October, a conservative blog
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
, Infidel Bloggers Alliance, reposted Martin's press release in response to a question about Obama's heritage. Then, on December 26, conservative activist Ted Sampley, co-founder of Vietnam Veterans Against John Kerry
John Kerry
John Forbes Kerry is the senior United States Senator from Massachusetts, the 10th most senior U.S. Senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party in the 2004 presidential election, but lost to former President George W...
, posted a column suggesting Obama was a closeted
The Closet
The Closet may refer to:* The Closet , Chinese film* The Closet , French film* The closet, referring to undisclosed homosexuality- See also :* Closet* Closet * In the closet...
Muslim, heavily quoting Martin's original press release. According to Hayes, the first of many emails suggesting Obama was a Muslim was forwarded to Snopes within hours of Sampley's story. Hayes believes that the email was likely a slightly altered version of the Sampley article, which was in turn heavily based on Martin's 2004 press release. Martin told Hayes that he got numerous calls once the emails began circulating. When the callers asked him if he wrote the release, Martin replied, "They are all my children."
On June 28, 2008 Martin told the Washington Post that he wasn't "trying to smear anybody," but that it was "just an underreported story."
Jerome Corsi
Jerome Corsi
Jerome Robert Corsi is an American author, political commentator and conspiracy theorist best known for his two New York Times bestselling books: The Obama Nation and Unfit for Command...
's book The Obama Nation, published on August 1, 2008, opens with a quote from Andy Martin on Obama's alleged Muslim heritage and supposed attempts to conceal it. Jim Rutenberg of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
says that the book has been "widely discredited".
On October 5, 2008, Martin was featured as a "journalist" on Hannity's America
Hannity's America
Hannity's America was a weekly American talk show on the Fox News Channel hosted by Sean Hannity. It was replaced in January 2009 with Hannity.-Overview:...
of the Fox News Channel
Fox News Channel
Fox News Channel , often called Fox News, is a cable and satellite television news channel owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a subsidiary of News Corporation...
. According to The New York Times, "The program allowed Mr. Martin to assert falsely and without challenge that Mr. Obama had once trained to overthrow the government." In a subsequent appearance on Hannity & Colmes
Hannity & Colmes
Hannity & Colmes was a live television show on Fox News Channel in the United States, hosted by Sean Hannity and Alan Colmes, who respectively presented a conservative and liberal perspective. The series premiered on October 6, 1996, and the final episode aired on January 9, 2009. It was the...
, Robert Gibbs
Robert Gibbs
Robert Lane Gibbs was the 28th White House Press Secretary. Gibbs was the communications director for then-U.S. Senator Barack Obama and Obama's 2008 presidential campaign...
, Obama's communications director, criticized Hannity for allowing Martin to appear on the show.
Fox Senior Vice President Bill Shine
Bill Shine
Bill Shine, born Wilfred William Dennis Shine, was a British theatre, film and television actor. Shine was born into a family of theatre actors; among others, Shine's father, mother, grandmother, two uncles and an aunt had worked in theatre. His father Wilfred Shine was a theatre actor who also...
later retracted support for Martin as a guest: "Having that guy on was a mistake. We obviously didn't do enough research on who the guest was."
Allegations of Obama's father being Frank Marshall Davis
In an interview featured on the CNNCNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
network's American Morning
American Morning
American Morning is the morning television show on CNN. It premiered in 2001.-About the show:American Morning is hosted by Ashleigh Banfield, Zoraida Sambolin & Soledad O'Brien. Others who appear regularly are Rob Marciano with the weather, Sunny Hostin on legal news, and CNN senior medical...
program on October 27, 2008, Andy Martin explicitly abandoned his view that Barack Obama is a Muslim. In the interview, Martin asserts a newer view that Obama is not the son of Barack Obama, Sr.
Barack Obama, Sr.
Barack Hussein Obama, Sr. was a Kenyan senior governmental economist and the father of U.S. President Barack Obama. He is a central subject in his son's memoir, Dreams from My Father.-Early life:...
, but is rather the son of Frank Marshall Davis
Frank Marshall Davis
Frank Marshall Davis was an American journalist, poet, and political and labor movement activist.-Early life:...
, an African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
journalist and political activist who wrote for a newspaper in Hawaii in the 1940s and 1950s that was accused by the House Un-American Activities Committee
House Un-American Activities Committee
The House Committee on Un-American Activities or House Un-American Activities Committee was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives. In 1969, the House changed the committee's name to "House Committee on Internal Security"...
as being a front for the Communist Party USA
Communist Party USA
The Communist Party USA is a Marxist political party in the United States, established in 1919. It has a long, complex history that is closely related to the histories of similar communist parties worldwide and the U.S. labor movement....
. Martin claimed that he discovered this after his recent trip to Honolulu, although he offered CNN no substantive proof for the claim.
Lawsuit against the state of Hawaii
Circuit court
Circuit court is the name of court systems in several common law jurisdictions.-History:King Henry II instituted the custom of having judges ride around the countryside each year to hear appeals, rather than forcing everyone to bring their appeals to London...
of Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
against Governor Linda Lingle
Linda Lingle
Linda Lingle was the sixth Governor of Hawaii. Lingle holds a number of distinctions: first Republican elected governor of Hawaii since the departure of William F...
and health department director Dr. Chiyome Fukino seeking to verify the state's official birth certificate
Birth certificate
A birth certificate is a vital record that documents the birth of a child. The term "birth certificate" can refer to either the original document certifying the circumstances of the birth or to a certified copy of or representation of the ensuing registration of that birth...
of Barack Obama. Months before this suit, the Obama campaign posted an image of his short-form birth certificate online. Martin's lawsuit sought to order the state to release a copy of Sen. Obama's long-form birth certificate.
The short-form birth certificate that the Obama campaign posted online states that his date of birth as August 4, 1961, his place of birth as Honolulu, Hawaii, and other details. Martin was quoted as saying, "I want to see a certified copy issued by the state of Hawai'i, not one issued by the state of Obama."
Hawaii State Department and Health spokeswoman Janice Okubo stated that only people with a "tangible relationship" to Barack Obama can access a copy of his birth certificate, adding that a 1949 law "was enacted primarily to protect your private information, especially in these days where there's ID theft." Attorney General Mark Bennett stated that he has not seen the lawsuit and cannot comment on it, but says that according to Hawaii Revised Statutes it is unlawful to release vital record
Vital record
Vital records are records of life events kept under governmental authority, including birth certificates, marriage licenses, and death certificates. In some jurisdictions, vital records may also include records of civil unions or domestic partnerships....
s to anyone except individuals listed in state records as having close relations with Obama (i.e. a spouse, parents, descendants, or someone with a common ancestor). In regard to a designee representing Obama, Okubo says "If someone from Obama's campaign gave us permission in person and presented some kind of verification that he or she was Obama's designee, we could release the vital record."
On October 22, 2008, in a Honolulu court proceeding overseen by the Honorable Bert I. Ayabe of the First Circuit of the Supreme Court of Hawaii, the court denied Martin's petition No. 29414 for a writ of mandamus to order the release of Obama's vital records. The official document of the original proceedings states:
Upon consideration of the petition for a writ of mandamus filed by petitioner Andy Martin and the papers in support, it appears that the issuance by the Department of Health of a certified copy of a vital statistics record to petitioner was not mandatory, but involved the exercise of discretion and judgment...the department shall not permit inspection of public health statistics records, or issue a certified copy of any such record or part thereof, unless it is satisfied that the applicant has a direct and tangible interest in the record...Therefore, petitioner is not entitled to mandamus relief against the respondent public officials...IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the petition for a writ of mandamus is denied."
A further hearing was held on November 18. On November 19, the court denied Martin's "emergency motion" and dismissed Martin's lawsuit, based on Martin's lack of legal standing
Standing (law)
In law, standing or locus standi is the term for the ability of a party to demonstrate to the court sufficient connection to and harm from the law or action challenged to support that party's participation in the case...
to obtain another person's birth document.