"Sovereign Citizen" Movement

The Court [...] feels some measure of responsibility to inform Defendant that all the fancy legal-sounding things he has read on the internet are make-believe.[120] Defendant can call himself a "public minister" and "private attorney general", he may file "mandatory judicial notices" citing all his favorite websites, he can even address mail to the "Washington Republic". But at the end of the day, while sovereign citizens and Defendant cite things like "Universal Law Ordinances", they are subject to both state and federal laws, just like everyone else.[132][133]

In 2018, upon dismissing the arguments of sovereign citizen guru Heather Ann Tucci-Jarraf and her associate Randall Beane, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee found the idea that one cannot be charged by the judiciary without one's consent "incredible and absurd":

Under [that] reasoning, anyone can commit any criminal act (burglary, robbery, assault, drug trafficking, or even murder) but cannot be prosecuted, unless they consent to being prosecuted. Even the least educated among us would scoff at this notion. However, those intent upon preying on others would relish such a proposition. Such a system would be untenable, and no nation, country, state, or community could exist under such a preposterous proposition.[134]

In 2021, Pauline Bauer, a Pennsylvania restaurant owner who was facing charges for participating in the Capitol riot,[135] used a sovereign citizen line of defense by claiming to be a "self-governed individual"[119] and a "Free Living Soul"[101] and thus immune to prosecution. She was jailed for one day for contempt of court[119][136] and later remanded to jail pending trial for refusing to cooperate with the court or comply with the conditions of her release.[135][137] In January 2023, Bauer was found guilty on all counts of misdemeanor and of the felony of obstructing an official proceeding.[138] In May, she was sentenced to 27 months in prison.[139] Bauer's co-defendant, who had pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor, was sentenced to probation and to a $500 fine.[138]

In 2022, Darrell Brooks, the perpetrator of the Waukesha Christmas parade attack, claimed to be "sovereign"[45] and used other pseudolegal arguments as part of his pro se defense.[140][141][142] Judge Jennifer Dorow ruled that Brooks was not allowed to argue he was a sovereign citizen in court, saying the defense was without merit;[143] she said that sovereign citizen legal theories are "nonsense" and that the movement's tactics had no place in the judicial system.[144] Brooks was found guilty on all counts[145] and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.[146]

"Gurus" Bonnie and David Straight sold their adherents processes and documents (such as "noncitizen national passports" and illegal license plates) that purportedly gave them "American State National" status and made them immune to U.S. jurisdiction. The Straights's methods were proved ineffective in April 2023 when they were arrested and detained on several charges,[67] including driving without a license. Bonnie Straight, who had a warrant on a 2015 gun charge, was sentenced to five years' imprisonment. The court rejected her arguments that it did not have jurisdiction over her, and did not allow her husband to represent her in court.[147][148][149]

The core redemption/A4V theory that people possess vast sums of money hidden from them by the government in a secret account, and that this money can be unlocked through specific means, has no basis in reality. Likewise, the strawman theory has been repeatedly dismissed by courts. Both theories are listed by the FBI as common fraud schemes.[150] In 2021, the District Court of Queensland dismissed an application that relied on the strawman theory, commenting that this argument "may properly be described as nonsense or gobbledygook".[151] Redemption methods such as "Accepted for Value" are based on a misinterpretation of the Uniform Commercial Code and have no effect.[30]

Roger Elvick, the originator of the redemption movement, was convicted in 1991 in Hawaii of passing more than $1 million in false sight drafts, and of filing fraudulent IRS forms. He was sentenced to five years in federal prison. Upon his release, Elvick resumed his activities, conceiving the strawman theory at that point. In 2003, he was indicted in Ohio on multiple felony counts. During preliminary hearings, Elvick disrupted proceedings by denying his identity and claiming that the court had no jurisdiction over him or his "strawman". A judge ruled Elvick mentally unfit to stand trial and committed him to a correctional psychiatric facility. After nine months of treatment, Elvick stood trial and pleaded guilty; in April 2005, he was sentenced to four years in prison.[152]

Heather Ann Tucci-Jarraf, a licensed lawyer who had been at one point a state prosecutor, eventually joined the sovereign citizen movement: she built an online following as a "guru" and advocated the use of redemption methods to reclaim one's alleged secret fund from the banking system and the Federal Reserve. One of her followers, Randall Beane, used Internet fraud to embezzle two million dollars, which he believed were part of his secret account; Tucci-Jarraf was aware of Beane's scheme and advised him throughout. Beane and Tucci-Jarraf were arrested and charged with federal crimes. Both were found guilty of conspiracy to launder money in 2018, with Beane also being convicted of wire and bank fraud. The court ruled that Tucci-Jarraf, having used her legal training to assist Beane, was an aggravating circumstance.[153][154][155][156][134] Beane was sentenced to 155 months in prison, and Tucci-Jarraf to 57 months.[95]

Creating and selling fictitious financial instruments is likewise a scam. People who purchased sovereign citizen instruments purported to help them pay off their debts or avoid foreclosures have worsened their situation by doing so.[111] Winston Shrout, an influential sovereign citizen "guru" based in Oregon, who advocated tax resistance and redemption/A4V schemes, issued hundreds of fake "bills of exchange" for himself and others, and eventually mailed to a bank one quadrillion dollars in counterfeit securities supposedly to be honored by the Treasury.[110][157] Shrout was charged in 2016 with 13 counts of using fictitious financial instruments.[40] In 2017, he was found guilty of several counts of tax evasion and producing fraudulent documents. The next year, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Several of Shrout's followers who had tested his ideas, including his daughter, were also sentenced.[158][110][157]

Sovereign citizens' argument that they do not need driver's licenses, license plates, and vehicle insurance has never been upheld in court.[70] Sovereign citizens falsely claim that the United States Supreme Court has upheld the right to travel as allowing operation of a motor vehicle without a driver's license. While the U.S. Constitution does grant the right to "travel" by foot, bike, or horse, operating a motor vehicle requires training and licensure.[159] The Supreme Court has repeatedly held that driver's licenses and traffic regulations are necessary for public safety.[160][161][162]

Sovereign citizens' "common law courts" and other "legal" entities lack any legitimacy. Some may be simply ignored by authorities: in 2015, sovereign citizen "guru" Anna Maria Riezinger aka Anna von Reitz, the self-proclaimed "judge" of a common law court in Alaska,[36] published a letter calling for federal agents to arrest President Barack Obama, the entire Congress and the Secretary of the Treasury,[63] causing a minor Internet rumor. Snopes debunked her claim by establishing that von Reitz was not a real judge and that her "orders" therefore had no force.[163]

Depending on the nature and severity of their actions, sovereign citizen "courts" may be disbanded and their leaders prosecuted.[58] In 2016, after David Wynn Miller's "Federal Postal court" issued a $11.5 million judgment against a mortgage service company, a federal judge investigated that entity and ruled that it was "a sham and no more than a product of fertile imagination".[164] Two years later, Leighton Ward, who worked as "clerk" of this false court[164] and had used this capacity as part of a mortgage elimination scheme based on the use of Miller's language,[165] was sentenced in Arizona to 23+1⁄2 years in prison for fraudulent schemes and artifices.[166][167][168]

In the 2010s, Bruce Doucette, a computer repair shop owner who styled himself a "Superior Court Judge" and led a group called "The People's Grand Jury in Colorado", traveled the country to help other sovereign citizens fight local governments and set up their own "common law courts".[169][170][171][172] He and his followers attempted to intimidate public officials so they would dismiss criminal cases against other sovereign citizens.[173] When these efforts failed, Doucette's group retaliated by engaging in paper terrorism against them[170][174] and threatening them with "arrest".[173] In May 2018, Colorado's 18th Judicial District ruled that Doucette's network of "common law courts" was a racketeering enterprise equivalent to organized crime. Doucette was found guilty of multiple felonies and sentenced to 38 years in prison.[173] Two of his co-defendants were sentenced to 36 and 22 years, respectively.[170] Colorado prosecutors said that with this verdict, they wished to send a message nationally to sovereign citizens and remind them that threats against local government officials are not tolerated.[172]

Randal Rosado, a Florida resident, created a series of false legal entities, including an "International Court of Commerce", and used them to file fictitious arrest warrants, court orders, and liens against public officials and lawyers, most of whom had been involved in foreclosures. In September 2019, Rosado was sentenced to 40 years in prison on numerous counts of unlawful retaliation against public officials and of simulating the legal process.[175][176][177]

In August 2021, Sitcomm Arbitration Association, the largest sovereign citizen "arbitration" entity,[178] was held liable for a $1,384,371.24 fine in a default judgment for violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.[179]

The claim that the District of Columbia Organic Act of 1871 turned the United States into a business corporation is based on a misunderstanding of the term municipal corporation used in the Act (which referred to the District of Columbia and not to the entire country)[180][181] and on a misinterpretation of a provision in Title 28 of the United States Code, which includes a definition of the United States as a "federal corporation" (meaning a group authorized to legally act as a single entity and not a business corporation).[71]

The theories that "silence means consent" and that an unrebutted affidavit stands as truth are based on misinterpretations of the legal maxim "He who does not deny, admits".[78]

The idea that "there is no crime if there is no injured party" is based on a misinterpretation of tort law[78] and fails to recognize the existence of different levels of legal violations.

Filing fraudulent notices of liens or documents is a crime in the United States.[12] Other forms of paper terrorism may be similarly punished by law: Brett Andrew Nelson, a sovereign citizen from Colorado, spent years filing "claims of damages" against judges and other public officials, as well as private citizens whom he felt had wronged him. His conflict with the judiciary started in 2017 over a child custody dispute. He later issued numerous false "judgements", demanding thousands of dollars from officials who had fined him for issues such as traffic violations and dog bites, and similarly harassed the mother of his child and people from his neighborhood. In April 2024, Nelson was sentenced to 12 years in pri