Christian Science Monitor, April 26, 1995

ROUNDUP, MONT. — From a hilltop just outside this windswept eastern Montana cattle town, you can see the ramshackle farm buildings that are home to a group of antigovernment activists calling themselves the Montana Freemen.

The Freemen have declared their 900-acre spread a sovereign township, issued millions of dollars in bogus financial documents, and placed bounties on the heads of local officials. The FBI is investigating the group for financial crimes, and local law enforcement officials say they are afraid to arrest members for fear of triggering a violent standoff.

In short, the Freemen are a headache for everyone within reach of their Justus Township, as they call their land.

“This is a unique situation,” says Garfield County Attorney Nick Murnion. “We have people who have publicly stated they will resist arrest violently. And they have a stockpile of weapons.”

The Freemen are part of a broad-based and growing antigovernment movement that includes tax protesters, Christian Patriots, white supremacists, and militia groups. Though the groups differ on specifics, they share the belief that federal and state governments have become illegitimate and that individuals have the right to withdraw their consent to be governed.

“The number of people involved in these groups has mushroomed since the early 1990s,” says Daniel Levitas, a researcher for the Atlanta-based Center for Democratic Renewal, which monitors extremist groups. “The common thread is a profound alienation from mainstream America.”

The Montana Freemen follow a legal theory called common law, arguing that the United States has been operating under admiralty law since the 1930s, when the US abandoned the gold standard. This, they argue, makes the government illegitimate.

Their financial scheme involves issuing “writs” and “liens” against public officials, which they use to “pay” debts. Courts have rejected these documents as worthless, but prosecutors say the Freemen are well-practiced at presenting the documents convincingly and have managed to cash some of the fraudulent checks at banks.

To underscore their rejection of government authority, the Freemen have placed liens totaling $1 billion against public officials including the governor and state Supreme Court justices. They have also posted rewards of $1 million for the “arrest” of a local judge and a county attorney on charges that have no standing in legitimate courts.

The FBI, which has been watching the group since 1994, recently brought in a specialist in the common-law movement to assess the threat the Freemen pose. That specialist, Bo Gritz, visited the Freemen in early April in an effort to persuade them to surrender peacefully, but left empty-handed.

For now, authorities are left watching from a distance. “We’re going to play it as safe as we can,” says Garfield County Sheriff Charles Phipps. “We don’t want another Waco.”

The Freemen’s neighbors in Garfield County, a mostly rural expanse of eastern Montana, have mixed feelings. Some are deeply troubled by the group. Others find them more odd than threatening.

“I disagree with what they’re doing and I think they need to be dealt with,” says a local rancher who asked not to be identified. “But I also understand the frustration that drives people to that point. Farmers are going broke and the government doesn’t seem to care.”

After watching the disastrous 1993 siege of the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, and the subsequent explosion in militia membership and antigovernment sentiment, federal law enforcement officials say they are trying to avoid any action that could provoke a violent confrontation or fuel the movement they are fighting.

“Any action we take,” says a FBI official who asked not to be identified, “has to be weighed against the possible consequences.”