Vigilante justice is not just a pastime of cowboys in the Old West. Modern-day patriots are using their own court systems to threaten, harass, and even murder their opponents.

Militia members in more than 30 states use these alternative courts to further their itineraries. Common law courts, also known as citizen grand juries, operate outside of the judicial court system. They are self-elected members of a community who serve as officers, jurors and court clerks.

The committee hears cases and uses the court to propel paper attacks on local and federal officials.

"When these sovereign citizens bring a charge, the court claims power of investigation and calls accused parties to appear," said Devin Burghart and Robert Crawford, investigative journalists on militias.

"If they refuse, the court generally finds them guilty in absentia and issues punishment liens and threats of arrest, jailing or death to be enforced by the militia or constable."

According to their article "Vigilante Justice: Common Law Courts" in the Covert Action Quarterly, common law courts have issued numerous death threats to judges and jurors in the Northwest.

The Montana Freeman have been instrumental in developing this court system. "In the year that the Freeman remained fugitives, they became an inspiration to common law court groups nationwide," the writers stated.

In Southwest Oregon, a recent scuffle erupted between a civilian and a deputy sheriff. The civilian, Ted Davis, was shot and killed in the shoot-out, and friends of the deceased formed a militia in Davis' memory. "The Ted Davis Brigade would monitor the activities of the police, as in a civilian review board and serve as a kind of well-armed neighborhood watch," said a spokesman for the Brigade. "We don't expect any help from anyone except ourselves to solve and resolve law enforcement problems in Curry [County]. We want security and our rights. One comes with the other."

According to research by Burghart and Crawford, common law courts are deep-seated in the white supremacist movement. Their article shows some common law activists as having bigoted and racist agendas. "These courts are, at their core, a tool for furthering the supremacists struggle to construct a white, Christian republic on US soil. They weave conspiracy theories that scapegoat Jews and promote racist notions of citizenship."

Instead of common law courts and militias being antigovernment organizations, these journalists believe their primary goal is "replacing existing governing institutions with their own."

This same idea is echoed by Western States Center Researcher Jonn Lunsford who has noticed the aftermath of the Oklahoma City bombing resulted in militias in Oregon going underground. "Militias have metamorphosed into common law courts. You can think of the militia as the Department of Defense and the common law courts being the judicial system," said Lunsford. "The militia enforce the decisions of the common law courts."

The common law courts use liens, or stake legal claims, on local and federal public officials. The liens are issues of punishment and may even come in the form of death threats. According to Burghart and Crawford, activists in California face felony charges for veiled death threats to judges and jurors. Also, judges and prosecutors in Idaho and Montana have been issued arrest warrants by these courts.

With militia groups in the wary public eye, vigilante justice seems to have gotten the attention of lay and law enforcement alike. They call themselves Patriots, but will their system prevail? And if not, who will bring them down? These are questions only patience and awareness can answer.

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