Sovereign Citizen Movement

Sovereign Citizen Movement

The sovereign citizen movement is a network of American litigants who claim to be "sovereign citizens"; that is, people who have certain rights under English common law and are not accountable to the federal government. The litigants advance this concept in opposition to "federal citizens" who, they believe, have unknowingly forfeited their rights by accepting some aspect of federal law.cite journal|first=Kevin|last=Carey|title=Too Weird for "The Wire"|journal=Washington Monthly|date=July 2008|url=http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2008/0805.carey.html|accessdate=2008-07-19]

The sovereign citizen concept originated in the Posse Comitatus movement as a teaching of Christian Identity minister William P. Gale. It has gone on to influence the tax protester movement, the Christian Patriot movement and the Redemption movement. Gale identified the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution as the act that converted sovereign citizens into federal citizens, but other commentators have identified other acts, including the District of Columbia Organic Act of 1871, the Uniform Commercial Code, the Emergency Banking Act, the Zone Improvement Plan and the supposed suppression of the Titles of Nobility Amendment.

Courts have consistently ruled that the concept of a sovereign citizen has no legal merit.cite book|first=Bernard J|last=Sussman|title=Idiot Legal Arguments: A Casebook for Dealing with Extremist Legal Arguments|work=Militia Watchdog Archives|publisher=Anti-Defamation League|url=http://www.adl.org/mwd/suss1.asp|accessdate=2007-09-13]

References


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем решить контрольную работу

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Redemption movement — Part of a series on Taxation Taxation in the United States …   Wikipedia

  • Militia movement (United States) — The Militia movement is an unorganized political movement of paramilitary groups in the United States that claim legitimacy under the Militia Clause, Second Amendment, and often similar provisions of state constitutions. Members of the movement… …   Wikipedia

  • Militia movement — The militia movement is a political movement of paramilitary groups in the United States. Members of the movement typically refer to themselves as militia, unorganized militia ,[1] and constitutional militia .[2] While groups such as the Posse… …   Wikipedia

  • 9/11 Truth movement — Supporters of the 9/11 Truth movement at a Los Angeles demonstration, October 2007 9/11 Truth movement is a collective name for loosely affiliated organizations and individuals who question the accepted account of the September 11, 2001,… …   Wikipedia

  • List of Occupy movement protest locations in the United States — Contents 1 List 2 Gallery 3 See also 4 References …   Wikipedia

  • Transcendental Meditation movement — This article is about the movement. For the technique, see Transcendental Meditation technique. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, founder of the Transcendental Meditation movement The Transcendental Meditation movement (also referred to as Transcendental… …   Wikipedia

  • Occupy movement — Part of response to the late 2000s financial crisis, subprime mortgage crisis and impact of the Arab Spring …   Wikipedia

  • World citizen — You may be looking for World Citizen (album) This article is about the concept. For about the related award, see Citizen of the World. World Citizen flag by Garry Davis …   Wikipedia

  • List of Occupy movement protest locations — Protesters during day fourteen of Occupy Wall Street (September 30, 2011) The Occupy Wa …   Wikipedia

  • List of Occupy movement protest locations in California — Contents 1 List 2 Gallery 3 See also 4 References …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”