I read a lot of court cases that come from prisoners who are espousing sovereign citizen ideology. We don’t know a lot about how prisoners learn about sovereign citizenhood but they seem to learn quite a bit about it while incarcerated.
In this latest case filed by Mr. Derrick Edwards, who is an inmate in the Virginia DOC, he was claiming that the prison violated his rights by confiscating his “sovereign citizen religious literature.”
“In an affidavit accompanying his complaint, Edwards expresses the belief that “Christianity provides Christians with sovereign citizenship via the death of Jesus Christ-the true GOD Sovereign King.” He asserts that, for the past five years, he has “studied the Christian Holy Bible along with [his] sovereign citizen literature daily as [his] way of expressing [his] faith in [his] God Jesus Christ” and that he associates with other inmates who share the same beliefs. Edwards further asserts that he is “unable to fully exercise [his] religious beliefs because of the [defendants’] confiscation of [his] ‘sovereign citizen’ literature…He maintains that the materials taught fundamental rights of a Christian sovereign citizen and taught what their duties are to become a sovereign citizen.”
The material was “authored by a man named Sam Kennedy who works or did work for the Republic Broadcasting Network, known to broadcast pro-sovereign material.” It teaches people how to “disregard court proceedings, challenge government jurisdiction, attempt to arrest government officials, and file false liens and other financial documents,” among many other things.
It also combines that type of information with “encourages readers to “[i]ntroduce the Bible” to support their arguments and to remember that “the court of Yahweh . . . is a superior court to all others” and that they are Moses bringing the law into the land of the Pharaohs.”
The gang coordinator did not see it that way. They regard sovereign citizens as problems, and as anti-government extremists. In their view, this material is contraband.
It is interesting to see sovereign citizen ideology so intertwined with Christian ideas, at least in this case. It is not new, but interesting nonetheless.
In the end, the court sided with the prison. Mr. Edwards lost his case.