Drunk as a Sovereign Lord

An accused Pennsylvania drunk driver brings to bear an obscure bit of technicalitarian "legal" mumbo-jumbo to explain that the state of Pennsylvania holds no authority over him, as he's a "sovereign citizen."

From the Morning Call's account:

An Allen Township man accused of driving drunk wore a Coors Light sweatshirt to court today and offered a novel defense.

The law doesn't apply to him, Scott A. Witmer said, because he is a "sovereign man."

"It means I live inside myself," Witmer, 44, told a curious Northampton County Judge Leonard Zito. "I don't live in the state of Pennsylvania."

Witmer was arrested by state police early Aug. 24 after he allegedly drove drunk from his 1309 Adams St. home after troopers responded to a domestic violence call. Police also charged him with several summary offenses and said he did not have insurance for his vehicle, lacked valid license plates, and was driving on a revoked license.

Accompanying Witmer's legal position was a 20-page motion he submitted in December in which he insisted the charges against him were unconstitutional. In the filing, he served notice on the court that to rule otherwise would be a "blatant act of TYRANNY," and akin to "committing acts of treason, usurpation and tyranny."

A somewhat neutral exposition on sovereign citizen ideas.

A rather upset and disapproving one.

A sovereign citizen speaks for himself.

Sovereign citizens drive cops crazy.

As an essentially anarchist ideology, I can't help but applaud the idea; as a legal strategy in the courts of the tyrannous U.S. of Archie, it's a non-starter, as Mr. Witmer will doubtless find.