[42] See supra notes 3 and 19 and accompanying text. [35] Erica Goode, In Paper War, Flood of Liens is the Weapon, N.Y. Times (Aug. 23, 2013), https://nyti.ms/3xo3a8g; see also Laird, supra note 14. But if you actually go to a hearing in traffic court (instead of paying the scheduled fine on the ticket) lots of things can happen. [37] These liens, which are easy and cheap to file online but time-consuming and expensive to fight,[38] have devastating effects on the ordinary government officials, explaining why they have become sovereign citizens weapon of choice. [26]The precise methodology employed by Sovereign Citizens is best explored through illustrative case studies. Visit us at aetv.com for more info. [44] Sovereign Citizens Movement, supra note 13 (Moorish Sovereigns . I'm suprised I haven't seen him on the news yet on the last 15 years for committing some form of atrocity. Visit us at aetv.com for more info. An alternative remedy to the antics of Sovereign Citizens is to impose pre-filing injunctions against certain pro-se litigants. National cabinet encourages wearing masks to combat COVID-19. hold a concurrent belief that friendly aliens will visit earth and they are actively planning for this occurrence or believe that public officials and other individuals are reptilian aliens.). [25] See, e.g., Mark Baggett, DMV Hearing Featuring Sovereign Citizen Marc Stevens, YouTube (Sep. 16, 2021), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-lMmPd5-g8 (showing an administrative hearing for a license revocation in which Sovereign Citizen guru Marc Stevens was hired for representation). If and when a court manages to negotiate Sovereign litigants plethoric filings to hold an actual hearing, the unfortunate presiding judge can expect a barrage of outlandish pseudo legalese, often from agitated individuals. Related: Sovereign Citizen Gets Tased Trying To Enter Courtroom The burdens Sovereigns place on court time is not limited to their motion practice antics. [36] Additionally, some attorneys have used Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure or its state analog as a basis for sanctioning Sovereign Citizens who file meritless paperwork. [16] Mastrony, supra note 10, at 1015, 101721. [29] Instead, they declare themselves citizens of only their state, or in some cases, simply free people living under God. [17] Sovereign Citizens Movement, supra note 13. She claimed she had committed her life to stopping these unlawful acts against people all over the world.. %PDF-1.5 [67] Another approach could be to make the process of filing court documents, including liens, more difficult or expensive. 21, 2022), http://www.pennstatelawreview.org/the-forum/sovereign-citizens-the-uses-and-abuses-of-the-judicial-sy/. [34] See, e.g., Michael Harriot, Video Goes Viral of Crazy Confrontation After Couple Refuses to Hand Over License, The Root, (Sept. 13, 2017), https://bit.ly/3uxxVWq (reporting on a video of a Colorado Springs, Colorado, sovereign citizen couple who refused to hand over identification at a routine traffic stop, leading to police smashing their window). Depending on the particular strain and variant of the sovereign citizen, details of the governments timing, motivation, and purpose vary. Authorities say the suspects fabricated quitclaim deeds transferring ownership of the properties to themselves, then filed the phony paperwork with the courts. He has refused to pay a $143,840 fine levied by a judge against him in May 2010, as well as an additional $52,120 in October. [56] See Hydra, Brittanica https://www.britannica.com/topic/Hydra-Greek-mythology [https://perma.cc/F7LN-PF5T] (noting that if one head of the monster was cut off, two more heads would emerge from the wound); see also supra notes 3436 (addressing the difficulties in deterring future Sovereign tactics by addressing one case). Core tenets of 'Sovereign Citizen' law are things like 'claiming a court cannot try you because they fly a gold-fringed flag, thus making it an admiralty court' and 'because I declare myself a sovereign citizen, many laws don't apply to me.' This is, of course, absurd. HUMo@#{`Eb(U8TCLrFNl!ev|yXH_jb}bi.Qc$H)lu#mk%xRlk,w}vBS#>E-F1/z`P{4HU'}OxXy]sB=-na1E{MxOZU9n3smJF# a/:qi!Z-lR~ T)O)T`-j"eml4\%\#}@xi*t\pp). [12] See William P. Stork & Jordan Beumer, Sovereign Citizens in South Carolina: Who Are They and How Do We Deal With Them?, 30 S.C. Law. . [56] Until that overhaul occurs, judicial expediency will likely remain at the mercy of Sovereign Citizens and their paper war. 1 0 obj <>>> Three sovereigns one who had been ticketed for driving without a license and two who had been arrested for trespassing at a foreclosed house bombarded police, government officials and bank executives in Ulster County, N.Y., with bogus liens and fraudulent invoices totaling $1.24 trillion. Govt (Nov. 2012), 07_Crowell Gatekeeper orders Jan 262010.pdf (unc.edu) [https://perma.cc/S7JU-GSZW]. The shared view is that sovereign citizens' arguments cannot be backed up by actual statute law, the Constitution, or common law. RESPONSES TO SOVEREIGN CITIZEN MOVEMENT. An example of a sovereign citizen is someone who refuses to pay his income taxes, and then presents " evidence " as to why he should not have to pay them. Suggested Citation: Holly Christensen, The Uses and Abuses of the Judicial System, Penn St. L. [20] Sovereign Citizens Movement, supra note 13. [13] As is the case if the court is addressing a David Wynn Miller Quantum Grammar disciple. (exemplifying the circuitous nature of a typical Sovereign Citizen court appearance). Algorta. States such as Illinois have relied on this solution, enacting legislation heightening penalties for frivolous filings. However, educational internet resources would restrict the Sovereign recruiting pipeline by providing the financially troubled with knowledge regarding the Sovereign scam, as well as providing access to more viable legal alternatives, such as pro-bono representation. During this time, Beane supposedly stumbled upon a YouTube video that was being promoted by Tucci-Jarraf which talked about a secret bank account held by the Federal Reserve, that there was a glitch to access it, and gave instructions on how to use that glitch. [11] Although deliberating over the 31 flavors of ice cream offered by Baskin Robbins presents a much simpler and more enjoyable task than classifying a subspecies of Sovereign Citizen. [65] The result is a patchwork of remedies that include administrative, judicial, civil, and criminal penalties. See :JUDGE: David-Wynn: Miller, http://www.dwmlc.com/ [https://perma.cc/QE3K-L39F]. [1] Sovereign Citizens abject refusal to stipulate to even the most basic tenets of the established legal system has resulted in a paper war, in which courts are bombarded with legally baseless filings and motions, causing general chaos, confusion for legal professionals, and never-ending delays. [17] Additionally, it is hardly surprising that the growing inclination for some political groups to jump aboard the Sovereign bandwagon has coincided with a significant decline in public trust of the judicial system. . [6] See Bauer Notice, supra note 1, at 7. The copyright of these individual works published by the University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing remains with the original creator or editorial team. 13, 2010), https://bit.ly/3jrLf8t. [10] See Michael Mastrony, Note, Common-Sense Responses to Radical Practices: Stifling Sovereign Citizens in Connecticut, 48 Conn. L. Rev. Minneapolis, MN 55455, Tel: (612) 625-9330 The most viable way to combat paper terrorists seems to be the use of vexatious litigant statutes. g62ft]iXUWw'5#`[wCDwl|!o7o CdA>ovf) 4&[]bU9`Y`~W3!VY?CPW?T5R;Z%:QxPwQO hb```f``*f`a`_ @ %}|$ 1H%``xMCw MLp8X @U The legal community can, however, attempt to mitigate the effects sovereign citizens have on the judicial system. RICO laws were originally drafted to fight organized crime but now are sometimes applied to other forms of criminal enterprise. Code 391(b) (West 1994). . [10] They are "anti-government extremists who believe that even though they physically reside in this country, they are separate or 'sovereign' from the United States." [44] Furthermore, recognized Sovereign leaders have demonstrated a steadfastness to their beliefs, even when it results in personal legal difficulties. 2 0 obj 785, 787, 806 (1999); Mastrony, supra note 10, at 1019; Lorelei Laird, Sovereign Citizens Plaster Courts with Bogus Legal Filingsand Some Turn to Violence, Am. [17] Some sovereign [citizens] believe this perfidious change occurred during the Civil War, while others blame the events of 1933, when the U.S abandoned the gold standard.[18], Sovereign citizens believe that this change from common law to admiralty law means that judges, lawyers, and some law enforcement officials are actually foreign agents,[19] acting out against sovereign citizens due to the law enforcements treasonous loyalty to hidden and malevolent government forces.[20] Sovereign citizens are split, though, on whether lawyers and judges are aware of the switch to admiralty law and are hiding it or whether they are uninformed, indoctrinated by government propaganda. [32] Sovereign citizens, usually after they have been ticketed for moving violations or unpaid taxes, subvert the legal system to try to prove their claims. 3 0 obj [25], Admittedly, the explanation above is a vast oversimplification of the beliefs of the sovereign citizen movement. [17] See id. You can ask both sides of the issue if sovereign citizen tactics ever worked. They are unlikely to win a case in court. And they're incredibly easy to squash. [3] See Joe Pometto, Sovereign Citizens: Deconstructing, Decoding And Deflating The Worlds Most Notorious Anti-Government Movement 813 (2020). [32] Mastrony, supra note 10, at 101516; see also Sovereign Citizens Movement, supra note 13. [12] The grossly disparate nature of the two groups practices and world views means that they might as well be (and often actually are) speaking different languages. [50] See Sovereign Citizens Movement, supra note 13. In January, a federal grand jury in Detroit indicted David A. Cusumano and Henry Nino on 14 counts of obstructing Internal Revenue Service laws, including the use of worthless "bills of exchange" to pay their taxes. 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