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The Sovereign Citizen Movement: A Comparative Analysis With Similar Foreign Movements And Takeaways For The United States Judicial System, Mellie Ligon

Emory International Law Review

The Moorish Sovereign Citizens Movement began as an offshoot of the overarching Sovereign Citizens Movement in the United States in the 1990s by former followers of the Washitaw Nation and Moorish Science Temple of America. The Moorish Sovereign Citizens Movement follows an anti-government ideology, based in the idea the current American government is illegitimate and has been operating under false pretenses since as early as the 19th century. Though disagreement among the members of the movement regarding what spurred this covert change from a legitimate to an illegitimate government exists, examples of the different catalysts include the U.S. abandonment of …