#1586: Gordon Epperly

There has been a number of birther lawsuits – all of them deranged – but Gordon Epperly of Alaska may have the distinction of filing the (two) craziest of them all (the ones filed in Alabama by Albert Hendershot and Harold Sorenson aren’t too far away, though; nor is the one by Christopher Earl Strunk, though we’ll return to that one at a later point). Before the 2012 election, Epperly filed an objection to Obama’s placement on the ballot, complaining that “[a]s Barack Hussein Obama II is of the ‘mulatto’ race, his status of citizenship is founded upon the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Before the [purported] ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment, the race of ‘Negro’ or ‘mulatto’ had no standing to be citizens of the United States under the United States Constitution.” Yes, the complaint assumes that Dred Scott is still the governing principle, no less, and that might not even be the most insane thing about it. The challenge was rejected, so he filed another one claiming that Obama is not a natural born citizen and that, by taking office, he has committed treason – and that Nancy Pelosi has no right to be hold public office because she’s a woman: “There are no provisions in the Constitution of the United States that grants Women ‘Political Rights’ of Suffrage to hold any Political Office of the United States Government,” said the lawsuit. It probably comes as little surprise that Epperly represented himself.

Diagnosis: Epperly serves as a useful reminder that, yes, people like this still exist. And that’s probably the best anyone can say of Gordon Epperly.