Renegade "Justice": Common Law Insurgents Build Bogus Judicial System

Many Patriots live outside the law, openly evading income taxes, driving without licenses, failing to appear in court, and operating a vigilante "justice" system that targets government officials with bogus lawsuits, liens and arrests warrants. They justify their activities by claiming that they are exempt from federal and state laws and are bound only to what they call "common law."

Since June 1995, Patriot common law courts have spread into at least 40 states. Built upon arcane and bogus "legal citations" and Biblical injunctions, these renegade "courts" are made up of militia activists, tax protesters, Identity adherents and citizens frustrated and angered by the legal system.

Common law practitioners are networked through fax lines, computer e-mail, and numerous meetings held throughout the year. They are obsessive students of bizarre legal theories. Some pay up to $2,500 for instruction in common law at seminars. Others buy books of "fill-in-the-blank" motions they can use to create and file bogus legal claims. One such do-it-yourself common lam kit is offered by The American Bulletin. For $75, a Patriot gets everything he needs to "establish a common law court": a 118-page manual, a six-hour videotape, three computer disks containing 190 "legal" documents, and audio cassette tapes.

Once immersed in the doctrine of common law, Patriots claim "sovereignty" from federal government jurisdiction, especially all tax and regulatory laws. They meet regularly to hold "trials" with "judges" and "juries," and issue "court orders" based on their readings of the Bible and Black's Law Dictionary. "They live in the mythical world of common law which only they can interpret," said Garfield, Mont., County Attorney Nickolas Mumion at a Congressional hearing in November 1995. "As ludicrous as it sounds, they believe it completely and are apparently willing to defend it with guns and their lives." (Mumion himself was the target of a "bounty" issued by common law Patriots offering $1 million to anyone who would bring Mumion and other officials in for "trial." Mumion recalled: "We were to be tried by a jury composed of freemen and if convicted the penalty would be death by hanging ... from a bridge.")

On June 3, 1995 - the anniversary of Posse Comitatus and common law martyr Gordon Kahl's death 600 of these activists from 32 states convened in Wichita, Kan., for the National common law Grand Jury. Among speeches attacking the IRS, the "illegal" federal government, the monetary system, public schools and the "New World Order conspiracy," the "grand jury" issued a "show cause order" to President Clinton, Attorney General Reno and other federal officials to show why they shouldn't be indicted for treason.

An elder statesman of common law and one of 23 justices on a national "supreme court," Leonard Ginter said, "Go back to the time when somebody committed treason years ago, most of them were put on a scaffold to swing. That's what we need to do. If we do about 10 of them, the rest will straighten out. It wouldn't necessarily have to be a judge or a governor. If one governor got it, we wouldn't have any trouble with the rest." Ginter served five years in federal prison on conspiracy and fugitive harboring charges after officials killed Gordon Kahl in a shoot-out at Ginter's Arkansas farmhouse.

Legal Twists

Common law courts only recognize the first ten amendments to the Constitution, which they believe to be God-given, not man made. Under common law, a citizen must declare himself "sovereign" to exercise his God-given rights. Otherwise, according to their interpretation, one is a 14th Amendment citizen, a creature of an illegitimate government. By this interpretation, women and minorities are excluded from full participation in the democratic process, excluded from voting or holding office.

Common law adherents do not recognize federal law because they believe the current government is illegal and that the Constitution was suspended with the passage of the War & Emergency Powers Act of 1933, a measure enacted to give President Roosevelt authority to deal with the crisis of the Great Depression. They do not believe that the 16th Amendment, which gave Congress the power to tax income, is valid.

In their attempts to become "sovereign citizens" or "freemen," common law Patriots try to "revoke" all contracts with the federal and state government - including driver's license, auto registration and Social Security number - thereby gaining "Quiet Title," the document that 49 proves" that one is officially a "sovereign."

Revocation of one's driver's license is made by a "Petition for a Declaratory State and Disposition Regarding the Right to Travel." This is a compilation of legal case citations and other information that allegedly legitimizes the revocation of the driver's license and asserts the illegality of having to obtain one. A standard source for this procedure is Minnesota Identity leader Charles A. Weisman's book, The Right To Travel (Liberty or License?).

The primary weapon wielded by common law reactionaries is their version of the commercial lien. Patriots will file fake liens against law enforcement officers, state attorneys and judges that have brought cases against them. They will also file against anyone they perceive to be interfering with their common law rights or any other perceived injustice according to their religious and political beliefs.

The target of such action usually has no idea that a lien has been filed against him. Although the liens have no legal effect, they often sit in court records and credit bureau files like a time bomb waiting to go off. Some IRS agents and other government officials have been surprised to find such a lien against them on their credit report when they apply for a mortgage or a car loan. Although the filing of common law liens is wholly improper, it can be a nightmare to have a lien removed and a credit record cleared.

The entire process has caused chaos in several county courthouses across the U.S. In Musselshell County, Mont., a steady stream of incomprehensible liens, indictments, bounties, and court orders," became such a problem for the county attorney that she decided not to seek re-election. Arapahoe County, Colo., Sheriff Patrick Sullivan Jr., told Congressional investigators in 1995 that common law groups were "attempting to shut down the judicial system of rural Colorado." Patriots there regularly filed liens on the homes of judges, prosecutors, and sheriffs; sued law enforcement officials; and issued "arrest warrants" for prominent public officials.

Justifying Violence

Since "sovereign citizen" Patriots believe they are not required to pay taxes, obtain drivers' licenses or register their vehicles, they place themselves on a direct track for a head-on collision with law enforcement.

These Patriots believe that if a police officer or some other agent of the law should try to arrest them in violation of their perceived rights under the common law, they have the right to defend themselves. This right includes the use of deadly force.

In Missouri, a state trooper was wounded by sniper gunfire after he was involved in the arrest of a common law court member. Authorities suspect another court member is responsible for the attempted assassination.

In Ohio, the founder of that state's common law "Supreme Court," Michael Hill, was killed by a local police officer after being stopped on a routine vehicle violation. Hill came out of his car, which bore a handmade license tag that read "Unorganized Militia-Chaplain 13," and pointed a .45-caliber pistol at Frazeysburg Police Sgt. Matt May. The officer shot and killed the gun-wielding militia chaplain, who was a "minister" of the racist religious sect, Christian Identity.

Scores of local, state and federal officials have been indicted by "common law" grand juries. While most of these indictments remain little more than curious documents of protest, some of the more extreme common law courts take them seriously and have implemented the means for their enforcement. In Oklahoma, Kansas, Ohio, Florida and Indiana, militia units and other paramilitary Patriots have been empowered to "arrest" indicted officials and bring them before the court.

Hamilton, Mont., municipal court judge Martha Bethel was told if she didn't dismiss charges on a routine traffic ticket issued to one of the local 46 sovereign citizens" a warrant would be issued for her arrest. This was followed by months of anonymous phone threats. Later a federal law enforcement agent alerted Bethel that a murder contract had been put out on her.

"This is a living nightmare," Bethel told a reporter. "Who in their right mind would choose to serve their community when the community becomes defenseless in the face of such terrorism?"

Persistent harassment and the threat of violence from these "courts' has moved judges in several states, including Wisconsin, Ohio and Colorado, to order court clerks and recorders to refuse to file common law liens and other specious documents. Joining in this effort, legislators in these three states are working to enact penalties for fraud, harassment and intimidation by common law court activists.