FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 4, 1996
The Freedom Center Petitions
a 3-Judge Federal District Court
under Article III
BILLINGS, MONTANA. The Freedom Center filed a Petition today
with the District Court of the United States for a 3-judge panel
to authorize the removal of an overlooked state case seeking a
restraining order against the FBI during the Freeman Standoff. At
the height of the standoff in Jordan, Montana, Freemen supporters
scouting the highways reported a convoy of ambulances in route to
Jordan. These reports were fed into the Internet, and a
Counselor at Law in Arizona, Paul Andrew Mitchell, decided the
FBI had gone far enough. In a court case which has received
absolutely no press coverage, Mitchell filed a petition on behalf
of the People of the United States of America, to restrain the
federal government from using lethal force, and to enjoin them
from depriving the People in Garfield county of any life,
liberty, or property without due process of law.
The Clerk of the county court in Jordan was gracious enough
to waive the $95 filing fee for this case, titled People v.
United States et al., because of the emergency that was
developing. The Clerk was surprised to hear that ambulances were
headed for Jordan, because she also serves on the local ambulance
crew, and her crew had not been dispatched. , Paul Mitchell
reasoned that the ambulances moving towards Jordan must have been
dispatched by the federal government, without informing local
authorities. The electronic mail Mitchell was receiving, in near
real-time, convinced him that bloodshed was imminent.
Kenneth Wilson, the county judge assigned to the case,
immediately overruled the Clerk and required the Plaintiffs to
pay the filing fee, or face immediate dismissal. Wilson issued
an order that the filing fee must be paid in U.S. dollars, and
not with Freeman checks or other like tender. Mitchell paid the
fee under protest, using ninety-five Susan B. Anthony one-dollar
coins, and then requested Judge Wilson to clarify the meaning of
"U.S. dollars", "Freeman checks", and "other like tender."
Conspicuous for its absence was any mention in Wilson's order of
Federal Reserve Notes.
Mitchell wanted to know into what category Judge Wilson
would place Federal Reserve Notes. Wilson also ordered Mitchell
to appear in his courtroom to explain why the county court would
have any legal jurisdiction over the federal government within
Garfield county. In response, Mitchell petitioned Judge Wilson
for leave to appear in writing, since Mitchell was living in
Arizona at the time, and traveling to Montana for every court
appearance would become prohibitively expensive. Judge Wilson
never ruled on this request.
Mitchell immediately filed a Freedom of Information Act
("FOIA") request to the United States Attorney General for
certified copies of the official credentials, if any, of all 633
federal agents who reportedly rotated in and out of the Freeman
Standoff in Jordan. Under the FOIA, Congress has made it
relatively simple for Citizens to obtain government documents.
After the first request, written on plain stationery without
legalese, a simple one-page appeal is all that is necessary to
exhaust administrative remedies, and then to place the matter
before the proper federal court, to compel production of the
requested documents under court order.
The Freedom Center -- Press Release #2:
Page 1 of 2
It was at this point that Mitchell, and several other legal
investigators around the nation, made a remarkable, and
fundamental discovery. The court of original jurisdiction over
FOIA enforcement is the district court of the United States, not
the United States District Court. In its infinite wisdom, our
vaulted Congress has played some tricky word games with court
names, in order to confuse all Americans into thinking that there
is only class of federal district court.
However, the U.S. Supreme Court has already explained, in
clear and unmistakable language, that there are two classes of
federal courts, just as there are two classes of citizenship, in
America. One class of federal courts is authorized by Article
III in the U.S. Constitution. These courts are true
constitutional forums, with judicial power to hear all matters
arising under the Constitution, the laws of the United States,
and treaties. The other class of federal courts is authorized by
Article IV in the Constitution. These are strictly territorial
courts, with absolutely no criminal jurisdiction whatsoever.
LeRoy Schweitzer and his colleagues are now being criminally
prosecuted in the Article IV territorial court, also known as the
United States District Court.
Mitchell then followed up with another FOIA request for the
Federal Register regulations, if any, which implement the statute
granting criminal jurisdiction to any federal courts. In Title
18 of the United States Codes, section 3231 grants criminal
jurisdiction to the district courts of the United States, but not
to the United States District Courts. Furthermore, without
regulations published in the Federal Register, this statute can
only be applied to federal officers, agents, and employees of the
United States. In response to Mitchell's FOIA request, the
Attorney General's office has, once again, failed to produce
certified copies of these regulations, because they do not exist.
Litigation under FOIA is the best, if not only way to prove, as a
matter of fact and law, that these regulations do not exist.
Since numerous federal questions have already arisen in the
Freeman Standoff case -- such as FOIA enforcement, the presence
of federal agents within Montana state, and federal criminal
jurisdiction -- it was only natural to remove the Garfield county
case into federal court, in order to litigate these questions in
the proper forum. Mitchell, at the suggestion of Randall
Parsons, Executive Director of The Freedom Center, persuaded the
Center staff to convene a 3-judge district court of the United
States at the federal courthouse in Billings, Montana state.
Parsons reasoned that a 3-judge panel is rooted in biblical law,
and proper when injunctions are sought against the United States
(federal government). This case has now been officially filed
with docket number CV-96-163-BLG.
For more information, contact The Freedom Center at email:
liberty@mcn.net; telephone (406) 652-7412; fax: (406) 652-1813.
Copies of previous press releases, and of all the filings in the
Garfield county case, are distributed electronically to people
who subscribe to the FREEMAIL private electronic email list. The
FREEMAIL list was recently announced by The Freedom Center, and
the response was immediate.
The Freedom Center -- Press Release #2:
Page 2 of 2
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