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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

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FOR THE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF GEORGIA
COLUMBUS DIVISION

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CAPTAIN CONNIE RHODES, M.D., ) Case No. 4:09-CV-106
)
Plaintiff, )
)
vs. ) September 11, 2009

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)
THOMAS D. MACDONALD, ET AL., ) TRO HEARING
)
Defendants. )

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TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS
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BEFORE THE HONORABLE CLAY D. LAND
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
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Proceedings recorded by mechanical stenography; transcript

produced by computer.
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BETSY J. PETERSON, RPR, CCR

Federal Official Court Reporter
Post Office Box 81
Columbus, Georgia 31902
(706) 317-3111
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1 APPEARANCES

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2
3 FOR THE PLAINTIFF:
4

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5 ORLY TAITZ
dr_taitz@yahoo.com
6 Law Offices of Orly Taitz, Esq.
26302 La Paz Suite 211
7 Mission Viego, California 92691

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(949) 683-5411
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FOR THE DEFENDANTS:
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SHEETUL S. WALL
12 sheetul.s.wall@usdoj.gov
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Assistant U.S. Attorney
13 Middle District of Georgia
1246 First Avenue
14 Post Office Box 2568
Columbus, Georgia 31902-2568
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15 (706) 649-7700
16 REBECCA ELAINE AUSPRUNG
rebecca.ausprung@usarmy.mil
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17 U.S. ARMY LITIGATION DIVISION

901 N. Stuart Street, Suite 400
18 Arlington, Virginia 22203
(703) 696-1614
19
CAPTAIN ADAM KERSEY
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22 COURT REPORTER:
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23 BETSY J. PETERSON, RPR, CCR

Federal Official Court Reporter
24 P. O. Box 81
Columbus, GA 31902
25 (706) 317-3111
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BETSY J. PETERSON, RPR, CCR

Federal Official Court Reporter
Post Office Box 81
Columbus, Georgia 31902
(706) 317-3111
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1 THE COURT: Please be seated. Good afternoon.

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2 This is the case of Captain Connie Rhodes versus
3 Thomas D. MacDonald, et al., Case No. 4:09-CV-106. The purpose
4 of this hearing is to hear from the plaintiff and the other

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5 parties as to the plaintiff's motion for a temporary
6 restraining order. The plaintiff is represented by Ms. Orly
7 Taitz.

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8 DR. TAITZ: Yes.
9 THE COURT: The defendant is represented by
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Ms. Sheetul Wall and --
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MS. WALL: This is Major Becky Ausprung from Army
Litigation Division and Captain Adam Kersey. He is with the
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13 CONUS Replacement Center at Fort Benning here. He's also an
14 attorney.
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15 THE COURT: All right. What is your last name again,

16 Captain?
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17 CAPTAIN KERSEY: Kersey, Your Honor, K-e-r-s-e-y.

18 THE COURT: All right. Ms. Taitz, I see that Captain
19 Rhodes is not here.
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20 DR. TAITZ: Yes, Your Honor. I have filed with the

21 Court and provided the defendants an affidavit from Captain
22 Rhodes. And with your permission, I will read it. It's a
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23 short affidavit.
24 THE COURT: I've read it. According to what you
25 provided to the Court, it's your contention that Captain
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BETSY J. PETERSON, RPR, CCR

Federal Official Court Reporter
Post Office Box 81
Columbus, Georgia 31902
(706) 317-3111
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1 Rhodes' superior officers in Kentucky prevented her from coming

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2 to the hearing today?
3 DR. TAITZ: Yes. And she was explained that she has
4 to stay in Kansas until four o'clock tonight.

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5 THE COURT: Kansas. She's in Kansas?
6 DR. TAITZ: Yes. If she doesn't, there will be
7 court martial, and she can be thrown into military prison for

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8 not following the order of her commanding officer, Colonel
9 Jeffrey Johnson.
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THE COURT: All right. Well, I had some questions
that I needed to ask her, and I'm not sure how you're going to
be able to carry your burden of proof without your primary
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13 witness being present. But I would have thought when you filed
14 your action you would have taken the appropriate and necessary
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15 steps to try to secure her attendance at the hearing.

16 DR. TAITZ: I did, Your Honor. She was intending to
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17 come here, and at the last moment --

18 THE COURT: When did she first ask her superiors for
19 leave?
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20 DR. TAITZ: The moment I got a note -- notice from

21 you that she will have hearing today, she notified her
22 superior -- and I have here the name of the superior,
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23 Lieutenant Colonel Collette Pablo -- asking for one day early

24 leave. She is supposed to be in Fort Benning tomorrow. All
25 she asked was one day and only. At the end of the day,
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BETSY J. PETERSON, RPR, CCR

Federal Official Court Reporter
Post Office Box 81
Columbus, Georgia 31902
(706) 317-3111
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1 5:15 p.m., she was told that she is forbidden to leave Kansas

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2 until four o'clock today. And, therefore, she was denied her
3 Constitutional rights under the First and Ninth Amendment.
4 THE COURT: All right. Ms. Ausprung, do you know

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5 anything about this?
6 MAJOR AUSPRUNG: Your Honor, no, I do not. And that
7 is not the information that I had from Fort Riley. I inquired

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8 of Fort Riley, the judge advocate's office, yesterday as to
9 whether or not Captain Rhodes had asked for permission to
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attend the hearing today. And I was told that she had not and
that her hospital commander had gone to her and asked her what
her intentions were and if she still intended to comply with
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13 her orders. And she had said yes, that she was still going to
14 get on the plane tomorrow morning and that the lawsuit would
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15 continue on in her absence. That is the last information that

16 I had, and I have not been contacted by anyone last night or
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17 today saying that Captain Rhodes asked for attendance at this

18 hearing.
19 THE COURT: All right. Do you have any further
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20 information as to when she will likely be deployed from Fort

21 Benning to Iraq?
22 MAJOR AUSPRUNG: Your Honor, she is to report no
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23 later than 6 p.m. tomorrow to the Fort Benning CONUS

24 Replacement Company, and then she will stay there approximately
25 seven days.
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BETSY J. PETERSON, RPR, CCR

Federal Official Court Reporter
Post Office Box 81
Columbus, Georgia 31902
(706) 317-3111
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1 THE COURT: So she will be at Fort Benning for most

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2 of next week.
3 MAJOR AUSPRUNG: Yes, Your Honor.
4 THE COURT: Well, I am going to require her to appear

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5 in this court to answer questions that I have of her. It will
6 be up to the attorneys whether they want to reappear when she
7 appears, but I'm going to issue an order that is going to

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8 require her to appear next week. I have questions that I want
9 to ask her with regard to the hearing, and I don't want there
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to be any contention later on that she did not have her day in

Ms. Taitz, would you like to make your presentation

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13 today, or do you want to wait until next week?
14 DR. TAITZ: Yes, Your Honor. Actually --
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15 THE COURT: I'm not going to let you do both. You

16 can either do it today or next week but not twice.
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17 DR. TAITZ: Well, all I am asking, instead of --

18 first of all, I would like to state that Dr. Rhodes has signed
19 her statement, and it was signed under penalty of perjury. It
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20 was notarized by a notary public, and maybe the defendant --

21 THE COURT: Well, I'm not going to -- whether she has
22 been completely forthcoming or not, we'll explore that with her
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23 next week. My question is: Do you want to proceed today

24 without her present, or do you want to come back next week?
25 DR. TAITZ: I'll come back.
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BETSY J. PETERSON, RPR, CCR

Federal Official Court Reporter
Post Office Box 81
Columbus, Georgia 31902
(706) 317-3111
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1 THE COURT: All right. Ms. Ausprung, does the

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2 government want to go ahead and make their arguments today, or
3 do you want to come back next week?
4 MAJOR AUSPRUNG: May I have one moment, Your Honor?

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5 THE COURT: Yes.
6 (A discussion was held off the record.)
7 MAJOR AUSPRUNG: Your Honor, if plaintiff is not

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8 going to make their presentation today, we will wait until next
9 week. And we are available any day except Friday next week, if
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that is in accordance with Your Honor's schedule.
THE COURT: All right. Well, we've got a jury
presently deliberating, and we've got jurors coming in on
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13 Monday for another trial. I'm trying to determine the best way
14 to schedule this.
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15 I think the best thing for us to do is to schedule it

16 for -- let's schedule it for four o'clock on Monday. That way
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17 we will have chosen our jury in our other case and will have
18 some time for them to make their opening statements, and then
19 we'll adjourn early in that case on Monday.
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20 Yes, ma'am?
21 DR. TAITZ: I have -- at four o'clock I have to be at
22 a conference with U.S. Attorneys in California. I could do it
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23 a little bit -- I could do it at five o'clock, maybe even 4:30,

24 but I have to do this conference. It's a case where I'm
25 representing 48 clients.
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BETSY J. PETERSON, RPR, CCR

Federal Official Court Reporter
Post Office Box 81
Columbus, Georgia 31902
(706) 317-3111
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1 THE COURT: That's a telephone conference?

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2 DR. TAITZ: Yes. So I can do it at 4:30 or five
3 o'clock, if possible.
4 THE COURT: I tell you what. Let's do it at -- what

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5 about noon?
6 DR. TAITZ: Okay. Yes.
7 THE COURT: Is that all right with you, Major?

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8 MAJOR AUSPRUNG: Yes, Your Honor.
9 THE COURT: All right. We'll do it at noon on
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Monday, and make sure that Captain Rhodes is present. She'll
be at Fort Benning. So I'm assuming that, Major Ausprung,
y'all can make arrangements to make her available here Monday
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13 at noon.
14 MAJOR AUSPRUNG: Absolutely, Your Honor.
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15 THE COURT: Okay. All right. We'll just take it up

16 at that time then. I mean, the earliest she would be deployed
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17 to Iraq would likely be next Friday?

18 MAJOR AUSPRUNG: Yes, Your Honor.
19 THE COURT: Okay.
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20 MAJOR AUSPRUNG: And if we could get a copy of the

21 affidavit of Captain Rhodes. We don't yet have a copy of that
22 document so that we can look --
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23 THE COURT: Well, I'm going to -- I was provided with

24 several items this afternoon before the hearing, and I'm going
25 to give that to the clerk. And those will be filed and
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BETSY J. PETERSON, RPR, CCR

Federal Official Court Reporter
Post Office Box 81
Columbus, Georgia 31902
(706) 317-3111
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1 available to the other side also. That includes the affidavit,

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2 I think.
3 MAJOR AUSPRUNG: Thank you, Your Honor.
4 THE COURT: Okay. Well, this was a bust. We will be

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5 in -- we'll continue it until 12 noon on Monday.
6 We're adjourned.
7 (Proceedings adjourned to Monday, July 14, 2009)

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8 CERTIFICATE OF REPORTER
9 I, Betsy J. Peterson, Official Court Reporter of

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the United States District Court, in and for the Middle
10 District of the State of Georgia, Columbus Division, a
Registered Professional Reporter, do hereby CERTIFY that the
11 foregoing proceedings were reported by me in stenographic
shorthand and were thereafter transcribed under my direction
12 into typewriting; that the foregoing is a full, complete, and
of
true record of said proceedings.
13
14 This 6th day of October, 2009.
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____________________________
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17 S/Betsy J. Peterson, RPR,CCR

Federal Official Court Reporter
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BETSY J. PETERSON, RPR, CCR

Federal Official Court Reporter
Post Office Box 81
Columbus, Georgia 31902
(706) 317-3111
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1 available to the other side also. That includes the affidavit,

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2 I think.
3 MAJOR AUSPRUNG: Thank you, Your Honor.
4 THE COURT: Okay. Well, this was a bust. We will be

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5 in -- we'll continue it until 12 noon on Monday.
6 We're adjourned.
7 (Proceedings adjourned to Monday, September 14, 2009.)

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8 CERTIFICATE OF REPORTER
9 I, Betsy J. Peterson, Official Court Reporter of

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the United States District Court, in and for the Middle
10 District of the State of Georgia, Columbus Division, a
Registered Professional Reporter, do hereby CERTIFY that the
11 foregoing proceedings were reported by me in stenographic
shorthand and were thereafter transcribed under my direction
12 into typewriting; that the foregoing is a full, complete, and
of
true record of said proceedings.
13
14 This 6th day of October, 2009.
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____________________________
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17 S/Betsy J. Peterson, RPR,CCR

Federal Official Court Reporter
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BETSY J. PETERSON, RPR, CCR

Federal Official Court Reporter
Post Office Box 81
Columbus, Georgia 31902
(706) 317-3111