Lindstedt lawsuit was a waste of taxpayers' money

(The following is my column for this week's Newton County News.)

Seven and a half months.
That is how long it took a federal court judge to dismiss a frivolous lawsuit against President Barack Obama filed by Martin Lindstedt of Granby.
While one of the hallmarks of our judicial system has been the fact that it is accessible to everyone, allowing this case to exist on the court dockets for over half a year crosses the border into the ridiculous.
The lawsuit, broken down into simple terms, was filed because an African American was elected president and Lindstedt was unhappy about it.
U. S. District Court Judge Howard F. Sachs dismissed the case June 17.
The particulars of Judge Sachs' decision were not available since all documents filed in the U S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri in the case, with the exception of the docket, have been kept from public view.

However, Lindstedt posted the text of the lawsuit, most of which was incomprehensible ramblings, on a website. In the complaint, Lindstedt, serving as his own lawyer, wrote, "The main reason that Plaintiffs are filing this lawsuit is simply that it goes against Plaintiffs' religious beliefs to allow any non-white, especially a n-----, to be in any position of authority over any White man, no matter how degraded." (Note: Lindstedt's lawsuit uses the actual n word. I don't intend to do the same.)

Lindstedt refers to himself in the lawsuit as pastor of The Church of Jesus Christ Christian/Aryan Nations of Missouri. Other defendants in the action included Sen. John McCain, the State of Missouri, Gov. Matt Blunt (the suit was filed in November), Missouri Department of Mental Health/Fulton State Hospital, Attorney General Jay Nixon, Secretary of State Robin Carnahan, Missouri Supreme Court, Missouri Democratic Party, Missouri Republican Party, Missouri Libertarian Party, "Traitor" Glenn Miller, Newton County Republican Party, Newton County Sheriff Ken Copeland, Judge John LePage, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Jakob Skouby, and Newton County Clerk Kay Baum.

The lawsuit includes this sentence:

"We could, like other White Nationalist organizations, simply hope and pray for an assassin and enjoy the inevitable race riots which we seek."

This is far from being the first frivolous lawsuit Lindstedt has filed against public figure. His previous lawsuits have targeted everyone from Missouri Southern State University, the city of Granby, Matt Blunt, well, you name it, he has sued it. He has also been an unsuccessful candidate for every political position from East Newton R-6 Board of Education to governor.

Though the Obama lawsuit particulars were not visible on the federal court website, docket entries were included. One indicated that President Obama was actually served with this lawsuit.

That was your taxpayer money and mine that went to serving the president, who certainly has far more important matters on his mind, with a lawsuit that is based on beliefs that should have been buried centuries ago.

It took seven and a half months to get this lawsuit off the books. That was seven and a half months too long.