PASADENA, Calif. – A federal appeals court heard arguments Monday about a lawsuit challenging the U.S. citizenship of President Obama, despite the release of his detailed birth certificate last week.

A pair of Southern California attorneys, on behalf of more than 40 plaintiffs, asked a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to remand their lawsuit back to the Orange County courtroom of U.S. District Judge David Carter.

In dismissing the lawsuit in late 2009, Carter said the federal court system is not the proper venue to challenge a president’s election.

The appellate panel seemed to concur, wondering how the lawsuit could have merit, given that it was filed after the election and Obama had already taken office.

“You did not file a claim at the time when the kind of relief you would be talking about might be plausible,” Judge Raymond Fisher said. “It doesn’t do anything for your candidates now.”

It wasn’t immediately known when the judges would issue a ruling.

Obama produced his full birth certificate last week and said he hoped the nation could focus on more serious issues. Donald Trump, who has considered a presidential bid in 2012, took credit for getting Obama to release the document.

However, plaintiffs’ attorney Orly Taitz said she believes the birth record has been falsified. Outside the courtroom, she said the document’s serial number was out of sequence, the typing wasn’t aligned, and it was printed on green paper instead of white paper like other Hawaiian birth records of that era.

Taitz said she wants to travel to Hawaii with a forensic document expert to look at Obama’s records.

“It’s not a true and correct image,” said Taitz, referring to the birth certificate. “It’s very inventive computer art.”

Taitz and fellow lawyer Gary Kreep remain undeterred and have helped fuel the so-called “birther” movement that questions Obama’s citizenship.

Both attorneys have been unable to convince courts around the nation that their lawsuits have merit. Among their arguments: Obama may have dual citizenship and the president’s alleged use of multiple Social Security numbers.

Two years ago, Taitz was ordered by a federal judge in Georgia to pay a $20,000 fine. The judge called her lawsuit against the president frivolous and the litigation an attempt to misuse the court system to push a political agenda.

Taitz had sued in Georgia federal court on behalf of Army Capt. Connie Rhodes, who sought to avoid deployment to Iraq by claiming Obama wasn’t born in the U.S.

Other plaintiffs in the case include conservative activist Alan Keyes, libertarian vice presidential write-in candidate Gail Lightfoot and other members of the military.

Assistant U.S. Attorney David DeJute acknowledged that the courts may be the proper venue had a lawsuit challenging a candidate’s citizenship been filed before an election.

“I think a candidate can challenge the qualification of another candidate, assuming of course that candidate does so in a timely manner,” DeJute said.

For the birther movement, the 9th Circuit appeal is a difficult platform in which to make its argument. Not only are plaintiffs arguing before one of the nation’s more liberal courts, they face bad timing with the recent release of Obama’s birth certificate and the announcement that terrorist Osama bin Laden was killed by U.S. forces, which gives Obama political strength.

Kreep said the case is unprecedented and shouldn’t be taken lightly by Obama or the courts.

“We have a man who, whether it’s true or not, arguably is not a citizen or at least a naturally born citizen of the United States and is not eligible to serve,” Kreep said. “The only recourse for the people is the courts.”

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