Sovereign citizen movement

The sovereign citizen movement is a loose grouping of American litigants, commentators, and financial scheme promoters. Self-described sovereign citizens take the position that they are answerable only to common law and are not subject to any statutes or proceedings at the federal, state or municipal levels, or that they do not recognize U.S. currency and that they are "free of any legal constraints". They especially reject most forms of taxation as illegitimate. Participants in the movement argue this concept in opposition to "federal citizens" who, they say, have unknowingly forfeited their rights by accepting some aspect of federal law.

The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) classifies "sovereign citizens" among domestic terror threats as anti-government extremists. In 2010 the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) estimated that approximately 100,000 Americans were "hard-core sovereign believers" with another 200,000 "just starting out by testing sovereign techniques for resisting everything from speeding tickets to drug charges."

Related Facts

"Sovereignty" is defined as: "The possession of sovereign power; supreme political authority; paramount control of the constitution and frame of government and Its administration". In America, the people are sovereigns, not the government. To further reiterate this fact, the Declaration of Independence says, "government is subject to the consent of the governed.".

In 1913, sovereignty and allodial title appear to have been unlawfully taken from the American people by the Privately Owned 'Federal Reserve Bank' via 'hypothecation' the 'Federal Reserve Act'.

Fortunately however, all unconstitutional legislation is null and 'void of law', and it is a crime for any member of Americas government to enforce such legislation.

Furthermore, any member of government convicted of even a misdemeanor shall be removed from office.

All Americans have equal rights to cite, arrest, and prosecute any person, party, or member of government or military which they can prove with verifiable facts has committed a crime. This also means that Americans have the right to self-defense against an unlawful arrest, and to protect others from unlawful arrest, even when that other is consenting to such .

Additionally, the federal government has no authority or jurisdiction over the people in the United States of America except for in the District of Columbia and other territories owned by The United States of America. Note that there is a 'Federal Corporation' with the name of 'United States' which causes great confusion among people who think that 'The United States of America' (The physical land and people) has been replaced by or changed into a corporation, which is not lawfully possible under the 'Supreme Law of the Land' (The Constitution for the United States of America, circa 1787).

Theories about sovereign citizens

Sovereign-citizen leader Richard McDonald has established State Citizen Service Centers around the United States. Writing in American Scientific Affiliation, Dennis L. Feucht describes McDonald's theory, which claims that there are two classes of citizens in America: the "original citizens of the states" (or "States citizens") and "U.S. citizens." McDonald asserts that U.S. citizens or "Fourteenth Amendment citizens" have civil rights,

legislated to give the freed black slaves after the Civil War rights comparable to the unalienable constitutional rights of white state citizens. The benefits of U.S. citizenship are received by consent in exchange for freedom. State citizens consequently take steps to revoke and rescind their U.S. citizenship and reassert their de jure common-law state citizen status. This involves removing one's self from federal jurisdiction and relinquishing any evidence of consent to U.S. citizenship, such as a Social Security number, driver's license, car registration, use of ZIP codes, marriage license, voter registration, and birth certificate. Also included is refusal to pay state and federal income taxes because citizens not under U.S. jurisdiction are not required to pay them. Only residents (resident aliens) of the states, not its citizens, are income-taxable, state citizens argue. And as a state citizen land owner, one can bring forward the original land patent and file it with the county for absolute or allodial property rights. Such allodial ownership is held "without recognizing any superior to whom any duty is due on account thereof" (Black's Law Dictionary). Superiors include those who levy property taxes or who hold mortgages or liens against the property.

Critics of sovereign citizen theory assert that sovereign citizens fail to sufficiently examine the context of the case laws from which they cite, and ignore adverse evidence, such as Federalist No. 15, where Alexander Hamilton expressed the view that the Constitution placed everyone personally under federal authority.

History

The concept of a sovereign citizen originated in the Posse Comitatus movement as a teaching of Christian Identity minister William P. Gale. The concept has influenced the tax protester movement, the Christian Patriot movement, and the redemption movement—the last of which claims that the U.S. government uses its citizens as collateral against foreign debt.

Gale identified the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution as the act that converted sovereign citizens into federal citizens by their agreement to a contract to accept benefits from the federal government. Other commentators have identified other acts, including the Uniform Commercial Code, the Emergency Banking Act, the Zone Improvement Plan, and the alleged suppression of the Titles of Nobility Amendment.

Many of those in the movement consider the term "sovereign citizen" an oxymoron, preferring to view themselves as sovereign individuals "seeking the Truth".

Legal status of theories

Variations of the argument that an individual is "sovereign" have been rejected by the courts, especially in tax cases such as Johnson v. Commissioner (Phyllis Johnson's argument—that she was not subject to the federal income tax because she was an "individual sovereign citizen"—was rejected by the Court), Wikoff v. Commissioner (argument by Austin Wikoff—that he was not subject to the federal income tax because he was an "individual sovereign citizen"—was rejected by the Court), United States v. Hart (Douglas Hart's argument—in response to lawsuit against him for filing false lien notices against IRS personnel, that the U.S. District Court had no jurisdiction over him because he was a "sovereign citizen"—was rejected by the District Court and the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit), Young v. Internal Revenue Serv. (Jerry Young's argument—that the Internal Revenue Code did not pertain to him because he was a "sovereign citizen"—was rejected by the U.S. District Court), and Stoecklin v. Commissioner (Kenneth Stoecklin's argument—that he was a "freeborn and sovereign" person and was therefore not subject to the income tax laws—was rejected by the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit; Court imposed $3,000 penalty on Stoecklin for filing frivolous appeal).

In Risner v. Commissioner, Gregg Risner's argument—that he was not subject to federal income tax because he was a "Self-governing Free Born Sovereign Citizen"—was rejected by the Court as being a "frivolous protest" of the tax laws. See also Maxwell v. Snow (Lawrence Maxwell's arguments—that he was not subject to U.S. federal law because he was a "sovereign citizen of the Union State of Texas", that the United States was not a republican form of government and therefore must be abolished as unconstitutional, that the Secretary of the Treasury's jurisdiction was limited to the District of Columbia, and that he was not a citizen of the United States—were rejected by the Court as being frivolous), and Rowe v. Internal Revenue Serv. (Heather Rowe's argument—that she was not subject to federal income tax because she was not a "party to any social compact or contract", because the IRS had no jurisdiction over her or her property, because she was "not found within the territorial limited jurisdiction of the US", because she was a "sovereign Citizen of the State of Maine", and because she was "not a U.S. Citizen as described in 26 U.S.C. 865(g)(1)(A)..."—was rejected by the Court and was ruled to be "frivolous").

Other tax cases include Heitman v. Idaho State Tax Commission, Cobin v. Commissioner (John Cobin's arguments—that he had the ability to opt out of liability for federal income tax because he was white, that he was a "sovereign citizen of Oregon", that he was a "non-resident alien of the United States", and that his sovereign status made his body real property—were rejected by the Court and were ruled to be "frivolous tax-protester type arguments"), Glavin v. United States (John Glavin's argument—that he was not subject to an Internal Revenue Service summons because, as a sovereign citizen, he was not a citizen of the United States—was rejected by the Court), and United States v. Greenstreet (Gale Greenstreet's arguments — that he was of "Freeman Character" and "of the White Preamble Citizenship and not one of the 14th Amendment legislated enfranchised De Facto colored races", that he was a "white Preamble natural sovereign Common Law De Jure Citizen of the Republic/State of Texas", and that he was a sovereign, not subject to the jurisdiction of the United States District Court — were ruled to be "entirely frivolous"),. In view of such cases, the Internal Revenue Service has added "free born" or "sovereign" citizenship to its list of frivolous claims that may result in a $5,000 penalty when used as the basis for an inaccurate tax return.

Similarly, in a case in which an individual named Andrew Schneider was convicted and sentenced to five years in prison for making a threat by mail, Schneider argued that he was a free, sovereign citizen and therefore was not subject to the jurisdiction of the federal courts. That argument was rejected by the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit as having "no conceivable validity in American law."

In a criminal case in 2013, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington noted:

Defendant [Kenneth Wayne Leaming] is apparently a member of a group loosely styled “sovereign citizens.” The Court has deduced this from a number of Defendant’s peculiar habits. First, like Mr. Leaming, sovereign citizens are fascinated by capitalization. They appear to believe that capitalizing names has some sort of legal effect. For example, Defendant writes that “the REGISTERED FACTS appearing in the above Paragraph evidence the uncontroverted and uncontrovertible FACTS that the SLAVERY SYSTEMS operated in the names UNITED STATES, United States, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, and United States of America . . . are terminated nunc pro tunc by public policy, U.C.C. 1-103 . . . .” (Def.’s Mandatory Jud. Not. at 2.) He appears to believe that by capitalizing “United States,” he is referring to a different entity than the federal government. For better or for worse, it’s the same country.

Second, sovereign citizens, like Mr. Leaming, love grandiose legalese. “COMES NOW, Kenneth Wayne, born free to the family Leaming, [date of birth redacted], constituent to The People of the State of Washington constituted 1878 and admitted to the union 22 February 1889 by Act of Congress, a Man, “State of Body” competent to be a witness and having First Hand Knowledge of The FACTS . . . .” (Def.’s Mandatory Jud. Not. at 1.)

Third, Defendant evinces, like all sovereign citizens, a belief that the federal government is not real and that he does not have to follow the law. Thus, Defendant argues that as a result of the “REGISTERED FACTS,” the “states of body, persons, actors and other parties perpetuating the above captioned transaction(s) [i.e., the Court and prosecutors] are engaged . . . in acts of TREASON, and if unknowingly as victims of TREASON and FRAUD . . . .” (Def.’s Mandatory Jud. Not. at 2.)

The Court therefore feels some measure of responsibility to inform Defendant that all the fancy legal-sounding things he has read on the internet are make-believe......

Defendant Kenneth Wayne Leaming was found guilty of three counts of retaliating against a Federal judge or law enforcement officer by a false claim, one count of concealing a person from arrest, and one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Incidents involving members

Convicted Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols was a member of the sovereign citizen movement, having asserted individual sovereignty in at least three court cases.

In May 2010, two police officers in West Memphis, Arkansas were shot and killed by Joseph T. Kane after Kane and his father were the subject of a traffic stop. Kane and his father were later identified as members of the sovereign citizen movement.

In September 2010, David Russell Myrland, an associate of a sovereign citizens group, sent emails and placed telephone calls to various officials of the City of Kirkland, Washington, telling them to "keep their doors unlocked", that they were going to be arrested, and that they "should not resist". Myrland also reportedly threatened federal judges and the chief prosecutor of King County, Washington. Myrland's threat to arrest the mayor of Kirkland came about after he was arrested by police. His vehicle had been impounded after he was found driving with a suspended license and expired vehicle-license tabs. An unloaded gun with ammunition nearby had been found on the seat of the car. Although he was not a law enforcement officer, Myrland had claimed that he had the authority to form a group of private citizens to arrest felons in public office "as permitted by RCW 9A.16.020" (the state statute governing lawful use of force). On December 2, 2011, Myrland was sentenced to three years and four months in federal prison after pleading guilty in connection with the threats he made, including the threat to forcibly arrest the mayor of Kirkland, Washington. Myrland is scheduled for release from Federal prison on December 20, 2013.

In March 2011, a central figure in the sovereign citizen movement named Samuel Lynn Davis pleaded guilty to 31 counts of money laundering in Federal district court in Nevada. Davis was snared in a sting operation after he agreed to launder more than $1.29 million in what he believed to be illicit funds. Davis accepted $73,782 fees to launder the money, not realizing he was dealing with Federal law enforcement agents. In October 2011, Davis was sentenced to four years and nine months in Federal prison, and was ordered to pay over $95,000 in restitution. As of late July 2012, Davis was classified as a fugitive, having failed to surrender to authorities to begin his prison sentence in June 2012. On August 7, 2012, Davis was arrested by sheriff's deputies in White Earth, North Dakota.

In September 2011, Edward and Elaine Brown, serving long federal prison sentences for various crimes, were identified by the Federal Bureau of Investigation as being members of the sovereign citizen movement.

On November 4, 2011, a federal jury in Montgomery, Alabama found Monty Ervin guilty of conspiracy to defraud the United States and tax evasion. His wife Patricia Ervin was also found guilty of various related charges. According to a news release by the U.S. Department of Justice, Ervin and his wife had acquired hundreds of investment properties over a ten-year period, had received more than $9 million in rental income, but had paid nothing in federal income taxes. The Ervins reportedly claimed that they were not United States citizens, that they were “sovereigns,” and that they did not consider themselves subject to federal or state law. Ervin and his wife had also filed documents in probate court attempting to renounce their U.S. citizenship. In one filing, Ervin declared himself to be the governor of Alabama in its “original jurisdiction.” On May 29, 2012, Monty Ervin was sentenced to ten years in prison, and Patricia Ervin was sentenced to five years of probation, with the condition that she spend 40 consecutive weekends in jail. Monty Ervin is incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Institution at Oakdale, Louisiana, and is scheduled for release on December 5, 2019.

On February 1, 2012, Timothy Garrison, an accountant from Mount Vernon, Washington was sentenced to three and a half years in federal prison after having pleaded guilty to tax fraud. He admitted to having filed about 50 falsified tax returns. Federal prosecutors contended that Garrison's actions cost the Internal Revenue Service over 2.4 million dollars in tax revenues. Prosecutors also stated that the sixty-year-old accountant had described himself as a “sovereign citizen” beyond the reach of state and federal law. Garrison had previously served time in federal prison in the 1980s in connection with fraud against investors in a cattle ranch. Garrison is scheduled for release from Federal prison on July 16, 2014.

On June 18, 2012, Francis August Schaeffer Cox, who had asserted that he was a sovereign citizen, was found guilty in the United States District Court in Anchorage, Alaska, of several felony charges including conspiracy to commit murder. On January 8, 2013, Cox was sentenced to 25 years and 10 months in prison.

On June 20, 2012, Anson Chi was arrested by federal authorities for allegedly trying to blow up a natural gas pipe line in a residential area of Plano, Texas.

On July 19, 2012, Martin Jonassen, who had described himself as a sovereign citizen, was found guilty by a jury in a federal court of kidnapping his 21 year old daughter, who he allegedly had sexually abused, and of obstruction of justice. During the incident, the daughter escaped from a hotel room where Jonassen had been holding her, ran naked into a store and begged for help. Jonassen was caught on surveillance footage chasing her, dragging her out of the store and pushing her into his car. The daughter reportedly "had never been to school and only read books about religion, history and the government approved by her father." She had seen a doctor only once in her life. On February 19, 2013, Jonassen was sentenced to forty years in federal prison. He is scheduled for release on July 17, 2046, when he would be approximately ninety years old.

In December 2011, Shawn Talbot Rice was arrested at his home at Seligman, Arizona, after a ten-hour standoff with FBI agents and other law enforcement personnel. On July 24, 2012, Rice was found guilty in federal court in Nevada in connection with the same money-laundering scheme that resulted in the conviction of Samuel Lynn Davis. The guilty verdicts came on one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, thirteen counts of money laundering, and four counts of failure to appear in court in connection with time that Rice spent as a fugitive. Rice, who had also falsely claimed to be a lawyer and a rabbi, was described as "a leader in the anti-government 'sovereign citizens' movement." During the trial, Rice tried to argue that the presiding federal judge had no authority to render a judgment against Rice. On March 20, 2013, Rice was sentenced to 8 years and 2 months in prison, and was ordered to forfeit over $1.29 million.

On August 16, 2012, two sheriff's deputies were shot to death and two others seriously wounded after having been ambushed near LaPlace, Louisiana. Authorities arrested seven suspects, two of whom have been identified by law enforcement as members of a sovereign citizen's group.

On August 27, 2012, Lonnie G. Vernon and Karen Vernon, an Alaska couple who were described as "followers of Schaeffer Cox", pled guilty to conspiracy to commit murder of U.S. District Judge Ralph Beistline, who presided over a federal income tax case based on sovereign-citizen theories which had cost the Vernons their house. They also admitted that they had planned to kill Beistline's daughter and grandchildren, and an Internal Revenue Service official. The Vernons bought a silencer-equipped pistol and hand grenades in March 2011; but the seller to whom they disclosed their plans was a confidential informant, and the Vernons were arrested as soon as the transaction had been consummated. On January 7, 2012, Lonnie Vernon was sentenced to over 25 years in prison. On the same day, Karen Vernon was sentenced to 12 years in prison. At the sentencing hearing, Lonnie Vernon continued to assert that he was denying the authority of the court, the judge and the prosecutors.

On September 10, 2012, David B. Graham of Gwinnett, Georgia pleaded guilty to violation of the Georgia racketeering statute. After losing his home in a foreclosure, he moved back into the home and filed a fraudulent quitclaim deed in the country property records in an attempt to transfer the ownership of the home back to himself. He was one of approximately a dozen so-called "sovereign citizens" who had been indicted on racketeering charges "for essentially stealing 18 high-end homes in eight counties...." At the hearing, Graham's attorney disclosed to the Court that Graham had been "influenced by the sovereign citizen group – individuals who believe that they each make up their own sovereign state or nationality, and are thus immune to federal, state and local laws...."

On September 18, 2012, James Timothy ("Tim") Turner was arrested after having been indicted by a federal grand jury in Alabama on one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States under 18 U.S.C. § 371 by, among other things, allegedly filing a false 300 million dollar bond in an attempt to pay taxes, one count of passing a false 300 million dollar bond, five additional counts of violations of section 514(a)(2), one count of filing false Form 1096 reports with the Internal Revenue Service, one count of willful failure to file a federal income tax return, and one count of giving false testimony in a federal bankruptcy proceeding. Turner has described himself as the "president" of a sovereign citizens group called the "Republic for the United States of America". According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, Turner had also been involved with the Guardians of the Free Republics organization. On March 22, 2013, Turner was found guilty on all charges. He faces a possible maximum sentence of 164 years in federal prison.

On September 27, 2012, 71 year old Phillip Monroe Ballard, who at the time was being held in Federal custody in Fort Worth, Texas, facing a trial on Federal tax charges scheduled to begin on October 1, 2012, was charged with offering $100,000 in a plot to kill U.S. District Judge John McBryde, the judge who was scheduled to preside over the trial. Federal authorities alleged that Ballard gave a fellow inmate detailed instructions to kill Judge McBryde with a high-powered rifle from a building across the street from the federal courthouse. Ballard allegedly said the killer could shoot the judge as he entered the courthouse. The Federal Bureau of Investigation also alleges that Ballard had a back up plan to have his accomplice plant a bomb in the judge's vehicle. Ballard's tax trial did not begin on Monday, October 1. Instead, Ballard appeared for a preliminary hearing on the murder solicitation charge on that day. The investigation reportedly had begun a few weeks earlier, following a tip from a fellow inmate. Ballard, who claims to be a "sovereign citizen" who is immune from all U.S. laws, was convicted in 1987 of a federal tax charge in connection with his seizure by force of a Mercedes automobile that was subject to a federal tax lien. In 2011, Ballard was also charged with falsely holding himself out as an attorney. At the prosecution's request, the murder solicitation charge was dismissed without prejudice in January 2013. Ballard is scheduled to go on trial May 20, 2013 on one count of corruptly endeavouring to interfere with the administration of U.S. internal revenue laws under 26 U.S.C. section 7212(a) and six counts of aiding and assisting in the preparation and presentation of false federal income tax returns under 26 U.S.C. section 7206(2).

On December 11, 2012, Jeniffer Herring of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina allegedly led officers on a chase of up to 70 miles per hour while she was talking by cell phone to a 911 dispatcher as she allegedly refused to stop for the police who were trying to apprehend her. According to a news release from the Brunswick County Sheriff's Office, Herring told 911 dispatchers she would pull over for deputies for $300,000. A law enforcement official indicated that Herring was a member of the "sovereign citizen" movement. Herring eventually was stopped, and was charged with driving while intoxicated, felony flight to elude arrest, driving with a revoked driver license, reckless driving, and driving left of center. Herring also faces a separate charge for failure to appear in court in another case involving a charge of driving while intoxicated. On January 28, 2013, she was indicted by a grand jury.

On December 29, 2012, dentist Glenn Richard Unger, alias "Dr. Sam Kennedy," was arrested in Ogdensburg, New York, after having been indicted by a federal grand jury ten days earlier, on one count of attempting to interfere with the administration of the internal revenue laws under Internal Revenue Code section 7212(a), four counts of filing false claims for tax refunds under 18 USC section 287, one count of tax evasion under Internal Revenue Code section 7201, and one count of uttering a fictitious obligation under 18 USC section 514(a)(2). He is charged with filing more than $36 million in fraudulent federal income tax refund claims. On January 2, 2013, a federal prosecutor asserted in a court hearing for Unger that Unger was a danger to the community and that Unger had stated that he would rather die than become subject to the government. Unger has been identified as a leader of the sovereign citizen movement. The indictment alleges, among other things, that in June 2011 Unger submitted false documents with the Clerk's Office of Saratoga County, New York, in an attempt to release a $116,410.43 federal tax lien against him, for taxes and penalties for years 2004, 2005, and 2006. The Federal Bureau of Investigation began looking at Unger in the spring of 2010, in connection with the now-defunct group called the Guardians of the Free Republics, when the FBI was investigating letters that had been sent by that group to the governors of all fifty states, demanding that all governors resign within three days. Prosecutors also allege that Unger filed no valid federal income tax returns between 1999 and 2005. The trial for Unger, originally set for March 4, 2013, has been rescheduled for June 11, 2013, in the U.S. District Court at Albany, New York.

Public image

"Public Enemy", an episode of the crime drama television program The Glades first broadcast July 15, 2012, depicted the sovereign citizen movement as a mixture of fraudulent promoters and sincere believers, whose proclivity for violence (Terry Nichols' links to the movement are explicitly mentioned) and for harassment by means of fraudulent legal motions intimidate professional law enforcement officers and civil service functionaries. It represented the movement as arguing that by changing one's name on birth certificates, driver's licenses and the like, one can reclaim one's status as a sovereign.

See also

• Freemen on the land
• Guardians of the Free Republics
• Social contract
• Tax protester (United States)
• Embassy of Heaven

External links

• SPLC Video Informing Law Enforcement on the Dangers of "Sovereign Citizens"
• FBI page on the Sovereign Citizen movement
• Sovereign Citizen Movement - Anti-Defamation League
• 60 Minutes documentary about Sovereign citizens
• "Common Law and Uncommon Courts: An Overview of the Common Law Court Movement", Mark Pitcavage, The Militia Watchdog Archives, Anti-Defamation League, July 25, 1997.