Global InformationSovereign citizen movement information
The sovereign citizen movement (also SovCit movement or SovCits)[1] is a loose group of anti-government activists, litigants, tax protesters, financial scammers, and conspiracy theorists based mainly in the United States. Sovereign citizens have their own pseudolegal belief system based on misinterpretations of common law and claim to not be subject to any government statutes unless they consent to them.[2][3] The movement appeared in the United States in the early 1970s and has since expanded to other countries; the similar freeman on the land movement emerged during the 2000s in Canada before spreading to other Commonwealth countries.[4] The FBI describes sovereign citizens as "anti-government extremists who believe that even though they physically reside in this country, they are separate or 'sovereign' from the United States".[5]
The sovereign citizen phenomenon is one of the main contemporary sources of pseudolaw. Sovereign citizens believe that courts have no jurisdiction over people and that the use of certain procedures (such as writing specific phrases on bills they do not want to pay) and loopholes can make one immune to government laws and regulations.[6] They also regard most forms of taxation as illegitimate and reject Social Security numbers, driver's licenses, and vehicle registration.[7] Sovereign citizen arguments have no basis in law and have never been successful in any court.[3][6]
The movement may appeal to people facing financial or legal difficulties or wishing to resist perceived government oppression. As a result, it has grown significantly during times of economic or social crisis.[8] Most schemes promoted by sovereign citizens are ways to avoid paying taxes, ignore laws, eliminate debts, or extract money from the government.[3]
American sovereign citizens claim that the United States federal government is illegitimate.[3][9] Sovereign citizens outside of the U.S. hold similar beliefs about the government of their own countries. The movement can be traced back to American far-right groups such as the Posse Comitatus and the constitutionalist wing of the militia movement.[10] While the sovereign citizen movement was originally associated with white supremacism and antisemitism, it now attracts people of various ethnicities, including a significant number of African Americans.[3] The latter sometimes belong to self-declared Moorish sects.[11]
The majority of sovereign citizens are not violent.[2][12] However, the methods advocated by the movement are certainly illegal. Sovereign citizens notably adhere to the fraudulent schemes promoted by the redemption "A4V" movement. Many sovereign citizens have been found guilty of offenses such as tax evasion, hostile possession, forgery, threatening public officials, bank fraud, and traffic violations.[3][5][13] Two of the most important crackdowns by U.S. authorities on sovereign citizen organizations have been the 1996 case of the Montana Freemen and the 2018 sentencing of self-proclaimed judge Bruce Doucette and his associates.[14]
Because some have engaged in armed confrontations with law enforcement,[2][15] the FBI classifies "sovereign citizen extremists" as domestic terrorists.[16] Terry Nichols, one of the perpetrators of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, subscribed to a variation of sovereign citizen ideology.[13] In surveys conducted in 2014 and 2015, representatives of U.S. law enforcement ranked the risk of terrorism from the sovereign citizen movement higher than the risk from any other group, including Islamic extremists, militias, racist skinheads, neo-Nazis, and radical environmentalists.[17][18] The New South Wales Police Force in Australia has also identified sovereign citizens as a potential terrorist threat.[19]
- ^ Kaz Ross (July 28, 2020), "Why do 'living people' believe they have immunity from the law?", University of Tasmania, retrieved January 20, 2022
- ^ a b c Laird, Lorelei (May 1, 2014), "'Sovereign citizens' plaster courts with bogus legal filings – and some turn to violence", ABA Journal, archived from the original on November 2, 2014, retrieved June 22, 2020
- ^ a b c d e f Sovereign Citizens Movement, Southern Poverty Law Center, retrieved January 6, 2022
- ^ Netolitzky, Donald (May 3, 2018). A Pathogen Astride the Minds of Men: The Epidemiological History of Pseudolaw (Report). SSRN 3177472.
- ^ a b Domestic Terrorism. The Sovereign Citizen Movement, Federal Bureau of Investigation, April 13, 2010, retrieved February 6, 2022
- ^ a b Netolitzky, Donald (May 3, 2018). A Rebellion of Furious Paper: Pseudolaw As a Revolutionary Legal System (Report). SSRN 3177484.
- ^ "Message for Students: What Is the Sovereign Citizen Movement?" Archived January 13, 2013, at the Wayback Machine. The Militia Watchdog Archives. Anti-Defamation League.
- ^ Lee, Calvin (March 2, 2022). "Sovereign citizens: sitting on the docket all day, wasting time". Minnesota Law Review. Retrieved November 18, 2022.
- ^ Carey, Kevin (July 2008). "Too Weird for The Wire". Washington Monthly. May/June/July 2008. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved July 19, 2008.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
NYT82313was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Moorish Sovereign Citizens, Southern Poverty Law Center, archived from the original on July 11, 2019, retrieved July 11, 2019
- ^ Weill, Kelly (January 4, 2018), "Republican Lawmaker: Recognize Sovereign Citizens or Pay $10,000 Fine", Daily Beast, retrieved August 4, 2020
- ^ a b Sovereign Citizen Movement, Anti-Defamation League, June 2, 2017, retrieved January 23, 2022
- ^ Allison Sherry (May 22, 2018), 'Sovereign Citizen' Bruce Doucette Sentenced To 38 years, Colorado Public Radio, retrieved February 3, 2022
- ^ Johnson, Kevin (March 30, 2012). "Anti-government 'Sovereign Movement' on the rise in U.S." USA Today. Archived from the original on December 16, 2017. Retrieved July 13, 2022.
- ^ "Sovereign Citizens A Growing Domestic Threat to Law Enforcement". Domestic Terrorism. Federal Bureau of Investigation. September 1, 2011. Archived from the original on December 10, 2011. Retrieved May 3, 2015.
- ^ Rivinius, Jessica (July 30, 2014). "Sovereign citizen movement perceived as top terrorist threat". National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism. Archived from the original on August 6, 2014. Retrieved August 7, 2014.
- ^ David Carter; Steve Chermak; Jeremy Carter; Jack Drew. "Understanding Law Enforcement Intelligence Processes: Report to the Office of University Programs, Science and Technology Directorate, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, July 2014, National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (College Park, Maryland)" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on August 9, 2014. Retrieved August 7, 2014.
- ^ Thomas, James; McGregor, Jeanavive (November 30, 2015). "Sovereign citizens: Terrorism assessment warns of rising threat from anti-government extremists". ABC News. Australia. Archived from the original on November 30, 2015. Retrieved November 30, 2015.