Thursday, September 27, 2012

Obama's Law License Revoked

The hoax that Barack and Michelle Obama had their law license revoked has been around for several years. It usually entails a claim that it was revoked due to disciplinary proceedings and gives a link to some obscure blog as proof, and for good measure a link to the front page of the Illinois Attorney Registration And Disciplinary Committee.

This has been making the rounds again all over Facebook, Twitter and E-mail.
The truth of the matter is this:

Neither Obama's have an active license, they were voluntarily retired. Despite the claim that Michelle was forced to surrender her license due to "insurance fraud", neither Michelle nor Barack were ever suspected of any wrongdoing and have not undergone any disciplinary action.

Obama placed his license on "inactive" status when he decided to run for president and after he won he had it retired. According the ARDC, it is a fairly common practice to retire your licence if you no longer intend to practice law. A 2011 ARDC report shows that 12% of the states registered attorneys were placed on "inactive" status.

So please, stop spreading this lie. Even if you don't like Obama it is still no reason to propagate such a blatant falsehood.

Sources:

1. http://www.factcheck.org/2012/06/the-obamas-law-licenses/
2. http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/lawlicenses.asp
3. http://urbanlegends.about.com/od/barackobama/a/Obama-Law-License.htm
4. ARDC Report http://www.iardc.org/AnnualReport2011.pdf
5. IARDC Barack Obama Page https://www.iardc.org/ldetail.asp?id=368256064
6. IARDC Michelle Obama Page https://www.iardc.org/ldetail.asp?id=498531424

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