Notable cases
Land was in the spotlight in late 2009 when he tried the case Rhodes v. Macdonald, in which Army physician Connie Rhodes attempted to secure a restraining order against her being deployed to Iraq on the argument that President Barack Obama was not born in the United States and was ineligible to serve as President. Land rejected the argument as frivolous. Within hours of Land's decision, the physician's attorney, Orly Taitz, told the news site Talking Points Memo that she felt Land's refusal to hear her case was an act of treason.[6] Two days later, she filed a motion to stay Rhodes' deployment pending rehearing of the dismissal order. She repeated her treason allegations against Land and made several other intemperate statements, including claims that Land was aiding and abetting purported aspirations of "dictatorship" by Obama.[7] Land rejected the motion as frivolous and ordered her to show cause why she should not be fined $10,000 for abuse of judicial process.[8]
After Rhodes asked for Taitz to be removed as her attorney,[9] on October 13, 2009, Judge Land issued a scathing 40-page ruling sanctioning Taitz and imposed a monetary penalty of $20,000 under Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.[10][11] Upon learning of Land's ruling, Taitz told Talking Points Memo that she would not pay the fine, calling it "intimidation".
Judge Land ruled to continue the incarceration of ICE detainees at the Irwin County Detention Center in Irwin County, Georgia during the COVID-19 crisis. During the more than three-month period, from the original filing to the day of the hearing, one inmate in a nearby facility died from the disease. In his summation he indicated that he had "not heard anything terribly persuasive to change my mind."[12]