a lawsuit filed by albert hendershot in december 2011 alleged obama's birth certificate was forged and that he was ineligible to be on the alabama primary ballot. on january 9, 2012, hendershot's suit was dismissed due to lack of jurisdiction, and two similar suits were filed by harold sorensen and another alabama citizen from pell city. sorensen requested that judge helen shores lee, who is black and also presided over hendershot's suit, to recuse herself because "she has racial bias and a lack of constitutional knowledge." the pell city suit was dismissed on january 13, 2012. sorenson's suit was dismissed for lack of jurisdiction on january 17, 2012, and the court awarded the alabama democratic party its costs and fees; its attorney, however, promised not to collect the monies from sorenson as long as he refrained from "bad-mouthing the court and this decision."