The Supreme Court on Monday put an end to a running battle between a California lawyer — a prominent figure in the movement to challenge the legitimacy of Barack Obama’s Presidency — and a federal judge in Georgia.  The full Court refused, without comment, to block a $20,000 penalty that District Judge Clay D. Land of Columbus, Ga., imposed last October on the attorney, Orly Taitz, of Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif.  Earlier this month, Judge Land’s Court put a lien on all of Taitz’s real property until the penalty is paid.

The denial of Taitz’s stay application (Taitz v. McDonald, 10A56), was by the Court after it had been referred by Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr.   In July, Justice Clarence Thomas similarly denied the application; it was then refiled with Alito.  Now that the full Court has acted, Taitz is blocked from making the same plea to another Justice.  Monday’s order was part of the second round of orders the Court has issued during its current summer recess.  The final round will be issued Sept. 3.

Among other orders Monday, the Court took routine procedural actions in three cases it will decide in the coming Term, with notations in each that new Justice Elena Kagan is not taking part.  Two of the cases — Michigan v. Bryant (09-150) and Staub v. Proctor Hospital (09-400) — were on the list of recusals that Kagan had given the Senate Judiciary Committee while it was considering her nomination.  The third case in which her disqualification has now been noted is Henderson v. Shinseki (09-1036).