Federal Government Lacks Power to Tax, Protester Says

Catherine Keddie does not recognize the authority of the U.S. government. She believes the income tax is illegal. And she thinks the “freeman” in Montana are being treated harshly.

“I am a sovereign,” said Keddie, a 58-year-old unemployed Orange resident. “The federal government cannot tax people in this country. The only person above me is God.”

Keddie and her husband, James, were among the 91 people on a list being circulated by the county marshal’s judicial protection Unit, which suspects they have links to the radical anti-government freemen movement.

Government investigators said they are concerned that some local anti-government activists have targeted a local judge.

Keddie insists she is opposed to violence and racism, and knows nothing about any plot against a local judge. She does, however, agree with some of the basic principles propounded by the freemen and other anti-government groups.

While it is not clear how Keddie got on the marshal’s list, she recently filed what she terms a “quiet title” on her Orange home and informed the Internal Revenue Service and Congress that she no longer recognizes their authority.

“I removed myself from the system,” Keddie said. “We are letting the powers know that our sovereign is our lord and our creator.”

Keddie says she often attends “common law court” hearings in San Diego and has spoken by phone to LeRoy Schweitzer, the anti-government protester whose arrest on fraud charges sparked the freemen’s standoff in Montana.

Keddie said she attend a seminar last year given by Elizabeth Broderick, now jailed on fraud charges.

Keddie said she knew nothing of any attempt to bring a local judge before a “common law” court.

“I do not want to take on the federal government,” she said. “But I believe in justice.”

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Times staff writer Deborah Schoch contributed to this report.