July 26, 2004

 

We The People v. The U.S. Government

Case No.  04-CV01211

Landmark Lawsuit Begins With Live National TV Coverage
And March Down Constitution Avenue

Letter From Lawsuit Counsel


On July 19, 2004, at 9 am, approximately 550 people from nearly every state in the Union gathered in the ballroom at the National Press Club in Washington DC. They again, were there awaiting a formal response from high ranking federal officials to a May 10 letter respectfully requesting those officials to attend the July 19 meeting and to respond to the People’s Petitions for Redress of grievances regarding the government’s violation of the taxing, war powers, privacy and money clauses of the Constitution and Bill of Rights.  

As has been its established practice, the government once more, chose to ignore the People and their Petitions. The officials did not send anyone to meet with the People, to address the issues or to respond to the Petitions by at least letting the People know when they would answer the People’s questions. 

From 9 am to shortly after noon, the audience (including an estimated one million people watching the event live on C-SPAN 2 and an estimated 500,000 people listening on C-SPAN radio) was informed about the original meaning, history and significance of the Right to Petition, the now epic struggle by the People to get the government to respond to our Petitions, the futility of individual lawsuits involving constitutional torts, and the particulars of our landmark Right to Petition lawsuit that was filed that afternoon. 

At 12:20 pm, the People marched to the District Court of the United States in support of their lawsuit against the United States Government. The lawsuit seeks a declaration of their Right to peaceably hold their servant government accountable to the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, by retaining their money until their grievances are redressed and seeks the protection of the Court against retaliation against the plaintiffs for exercising their Rights. 

     

   

   

Thank You 

We extend a very heartfelt “Thank you,” to all those people who traveled to DC in support of the People’s effort to restore the Constitution, in support of the resurrection of the Right To Petition and in support the filing of this landmark case.  Your personal commitment to our cause and your direct participation in this event helped make it the resounding success it was and will provide a solid basis for the unfolding process of securing justice and involving more and more of America in the active defense of Freedom. 

 It was immensely gratifying to see so many people from so many parts of the country come together in defense of the Constitution’s Petition clause and its taxing, war powers, money and privacy clauses.  

We thank them and we thank all the People who could not make the trip to DC but who we know were supporting us from their homes and with us in spirit, praying for the safety and success we enjoyed during our efforts. We now know what it is like to fly on the wings of prayers (not only by the seats of our pants, which we do here all too often). 

Again, thank you all. 

C-SPAN
 

C-SPAN2 broadcast our morning event from the National Press Club. They broadcast it live (in its entirety) and at least once the following day. 

We sent C-SPAN a press release Friday morning, the 16th of July. That afternoon they called us to tell us they would be broadcasting the Monday morning event live.  

We have received dozens of letters, e-mails and phone calls from people who said they had never heard of the Right to Petition or our organization, but were now going to get involved. One man send a brief handwritten note that said, “Saw you live (cspan2) Mon July 19-04. What an uplift for liberty!” Along with his note was a check for $10,000. 

Please note that WTP will soon be releasing video of BOTH the morning event (from the National Press Club) and the subsequent mass march/demonstration down Constitutional Avenue.  These video products will also include a shorter event “highlights” piece suitable for broadcast on local public access TV stations all over the country. We are planning to make these available on VHS and DVD (or CD-ROM) as well as low-cost Pay-Per-View streaming.  We will announce prices and availability of these products in the near future.

If you desire copies of the morning segment of the WTP event as it was broadcast on
C-SPAN (approximately 3.5 hrs), copies of the C-SPAN broadcast can be ordered now directly from C-SPAN in either VHS or DVD format for $112 including shipping costs.

Please note the C-SPAN coverage does NOT include any footage of the demonstration/march. When ordering, you will need to provide the Item Number, which is 182760-1. For the description of the item use “Citizens and U.S. Tax Policy.” To order by phone, call  (877) 662-7726. To order on-line go to www.c-span.org. 

We have also applied to C-SPAN for a license to copy and distribute the DVD and VHS for showings in living rooms and meeting halls. We have also asked for a license to webcast the C-SPAN video of the event in September on a pay per view basis (tentatively $20 per view). As soon as we finalize an agreement with C-SPAN, we will begin the technical preparations needed to stream it and make it available.

A widespread, intense public awareness campaign communicating the importance and long-term consequences of our Right-To-Petition lawsuit is critical if we are to receive justice in the courts and the reforms we are entitled to. We are going to have to build public awareness, day-by-day, community-by-community. We will need a single-mindedness of purpose from here on out.  

C-SPAN did an outstanding job. With its help we managed to jump-start the effort with a fair amount of coverage. They deserve our thanks and praise. Please send a note of thanks to Terry Murphy, C-SPAN’s Executive Producer:
 

Mr. Terry Murphy
Vice President and Executive Producer
C-SPAN
400 North Capitol St. NW
Washington, DC 20001
tmurphy@c-span.org
 

DC Police: Splendid

 The DC Metropolitan Police were extraordinarily courteous and proficient in communicating with us and in handling our march, from processing the Permit Application to assisting us as we formed up for the march and as we marched down Pennsylvania Ave. to 12th Street and then down Constitution Ave to the federal courthouse. Numerous intersections needed to be closed to automobile traffic and traffic had to be detoured. In support of the service of legal papers, the march stopped in front of the IRS Building and then a second time in front of the Department of Justice Building, for what must have seemed to the police like an eternity, adding to the burden of the police.  

The detail that was provided for the safe conduct of the march did an excellent job and deserve our thanks and praise: 

Metropolitan Police Department
Special Operations Division
2301 L Street NW
Washington, DC 20037
202.727.4634 

The Right To Petition Lawsuit 

The complaint was filed as a class-action by six named plaintiffs, and “all others similarly situated.”  (.pdf)
A supporting affidavit by Bob Schulz was also filed. Please note these are both large .pdf files. RIGHT-Click these links to download the document to your computer before attempting to open.

Everyone is urged to read the complaint. You will notice we have asked the court for an order:  

a.  Granting declaratory relief to the Plaintiffs by constraining the defendants to meet their obligations under the law and relevant rules by entering into good faith exchanges with the Plaintiffs and to provide to the Plaintiffs documented and specific answers to the reasonable questions asked of them by the Plaintiffs and to address each of the issues raised by the Plaintiffs in their petitions to representatives of the United States Government, namely: grievances relating to violations of the U.S. Constitution’s war powers, taxing, money, and “privacy” clauses ; and

b. Granting a temporary injunction against the United States Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Justice and any other agency of the United States that arguably may act in this matter under color of law, from taking any further retaliatory actions against the named Plaintiffs in this proceeding and against all others similarly situated, whether such retaliation is for attempting to petition the United States Government, for serving as Plaintiffs in this action or for the exercise of any other rights protected by the Constitution of the United States; and

c.  Retaining jurisdiction of this action to ensure compliance with the Court’s decisions; and

d.   Expediting these proceedings where this matter might be set for trial; and

e.      Granting any other, non-financial relief to the Plaintiffs that the Court may deem proper.

We will soon be amending the complaint, adding at least 3,000 named plaintiffs, or more! This means the names and addresses of over 3000 plaintiffs will be added to the caption, making the caption very long, indeed.

 

Letter From Mark Lane 

This means we have a lot of work to do over the next couple of weeks. 

To begin with, it is important that all plaintiffs (and those who would like to be a plaintiff) read the letter from our attorney, Mark Lane and promptly comply with its requests.  

When we amend the complaint to add the 3,000 named plaintiffs, we will also formally move the court to expedite the proceeding. We will, of course, have to justify such a motion. The primary justification will be the immediate and irreparable harm and injury many of the plaintiffs are suffering due to the government’s retaliation against them. 

Therefore, we are asking all plaintiffs to provide, on-line, some of the details about their individual petitions for redress, that is, their individual attempts to get the government to answer their questions. Have you sent a letter to your congressman that did not receive a responsive answer? To IRS? To anyone else in the federal government? If so, we need you to summarize that information on-line, in your own words.  (Please note this database subsystem is still currently "under construction.")

We are also asking those plaintiffs who are experiencing retaliation to describe, on-line, the nature and extent of that individual retaliation. Has the government sent you threatening letters or summonses? Have they placed liens or levies on your property or wages? Have they raided your house or office? Have they indicted you? Are they prosecuting you for willful failure to withhold or willful failure to file? Are they threatening legal or “enforcement” action? Have you experienced fear or other physical stress? 

Have you been intimidated by their public pronouncements regarding “enforcement” into paying your taxes even though you have desired only to fully exercise and secure your Constitutionally protected Rights? Have you incurred direct financial loss, expense, or other opportunity costs (e.g., lost business, friendships, opportunities, etc.) in your efforts to secure your Rights?  If so, we need you to summarize that information, on-line, in your own words.

Although the on-line system for providing such information will not be available for a number of days, it is very important to start considering and articulating your PERSONAL experiences and efforts to secure your Rights in order to establish, beyond doubt, your standing and your injury as a party in the lawsuit. Remember – as a plaintiff you may also be called upon by the Court to defend your statements.   

Next, it is critical that we receive a signed and notarized affidavit from each named plaintiff.
You MUST submit a notarized affidavit to be a plaintiff in the case.  At a minimum, this affidavit must state that you have participated in the Petitioning process as specified in the letter from Mark Lane. So far, we have received in excess of 1500 signed affidavits.  Use the text version of the affidavit if you need to modify the draft language for your specific circumstances. Be sure to include your mailing address.
 

Frequently Asked Questions

We will soon be arranging for an on-line e-forum where Plaintiffs (and potential plaintiffs) can ask questions directly of the lead counsel, Mark Lane. We will also be constructing and maintaining a “Frequently Asked Questions” (FAQ) page for the lawsuit.  Finally, please note that Mark Lane will be setting aside several hours per week to directly answer your phone calls and to answer your questions. Details concerning his specific availability, the number to call, etc. will be released soon.

Before calling Mark Lane with your personal questions about the lawsuit, we STRONGLY urge you to first e-mail your questions to bob@givemeliberty.org and to visit our FAQ page to see if your questions have already been addressed.  
 

Photos and Videos
 

Many people took photos of the event, both inside the National Press Club and outside, during the march. We are grateful for all the photos we have received and we encourage people to send any more that they may have.
 
We are especially grateful for the more than 200 photos provided by Michigan professional photographer, Todd Johnson. Rather than include copies of Todd’s photos here (adding immensely to the size of this article), we are providing a link to Todd’s web site where all of his excellent photos can be viewed.


REMEMBER

It’s not too late to join the lawsuit….

The legal process will take significant time to fully play out and we expect more and more Americans to join us as they learn of our battle to save the Constitution.

Please go to the Lawsuit Information Center to learn more about the suit, to read the legal research about the Right to Petition and for complete instructions on how to become a plaintiff.

Please also remember, although there is NO cost to become a plaintiff or to seek the protection of the court against IRS and DOJ, the very substantial legal costs and expenses of generating public awareness of the lawsuit are being funded solely by donations to the WTP Foundation.

Please consider a regular, monthly scheduled donation to support our cause and provide us with a steady source of funding so that we can execute the activities needed to secure our noble goals. 
 

  • To Join the RTP class action lawsuit, GO TO THE Lawsuit Information Center

  • Click Here to donate and help finance this vital project to protect the Constitution.

  • Read and sign the Petitions for Redress of Grievances regarding the Government's
    abuse of its limited war-making, taxing, and monetary powers and its ongoing assault
    on the Bill of Rights.

  • Click Here to obtain a copy of the Give Me Liberty 2004 conference record. 26+ Hours of "must-see"
    freedom video -- the leading voices on reclaiming our Republic & the right to Petition...
    On (4) VHS tapes or (8) CD-ROMs.