Paper terrorism

{{Short description|Use of bogus legal documents as a method of harassment}}

{{terrorism}}

"Paper terrorism" is a neologism referring to the use of false liens, frivolous lawsuits, bogus letters of credit, and other legal or pseudolegal documents lacking sound factual basis as a method of harassment against an opponent on a scale described as evocative of conventional armed terrorism.{{cite journal|title='Lien on Me': State Policy Innovation in Response to Paper Terrorism|author=Robert Chamberlain and Donald P. Haider-Markel|journal=Political Research Quarterly|volume=58|number=3|date=September 2005|pages=449–460}} These methods are popular among some American anti-government groups{{cite journal|title=Populism, Free Speech, and the Rule of Law: The 'Fully Informed' Jury Movement and Its Implications|first=Erick J. |last=Haynie|journal=The Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology |volume=88|number=1|date=Autumn 1997|pages=343–379|doi=10.2307/1144080 |jstor=1144080 |url=https://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/context/jclc/article/6948/viewcontent/15_88JCrimL_Criminology343_Fall1997_.pdf }} and those associated with the redemption movement.{{cite journal|title=When Law Risks Madness|author=Susan P. Koniak|journal=Cardozo Studies in Law and Literature|volume=8|issue=A Commemorative Volume for Robert M. Cover, number 1 |date=Spring–Summer 1996|pages=65–138|doi=10.2307/743460|jstor=743460}}

Mark Pitcavage of the Anti-Defamation League states that these methods were pioneered by the Posse Comitatus.{{cite web|url=http://www.adl.org/mwd/privlien.asp|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020918011634/http://www.adl.org/mwd/privlien.asp|url-status=dead|archive-date=September 18, 2002|title=Paper Terrorism's Forgotten Victims: The Use of Bogus Liens against Private Individuals and Businesses|work=Militia Watchdog|first=Mark |last=Pitcavage|date=June 29, 1998|publisher=Anti-Defamation League}} Some victims of paper terrorism have been forced to declare bankruptcy.{{cite web |title= Paper terrorism: How states are, and are not, fighting back |date= August 8, 2017 |work= Intelligence Report |publisher= Southern Poverty Law Center |url=https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2017/paper-terrorism |access-date= 2019-08-28}} An article by the Southern Poverty Law Center states that another tactic is filing reports with the Internal Revenue Service falsely accusing their political enemies of having unreported income.{{cite web|title=Common-Law Victims: 'Paper terrorism' isn't just on paper|date=Spring 1998|issue=90|publisher=Southern Poverty Law Center|url=http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-report/browse-all-issues/1998/spring/common-law-victims}}

Such frivolous lawsuits also clog the court system making it more difficult to process other cases and including using challenges to the titles of property owned by government officials and others.{{cite book|last=Robertson|first=Ann E.|title=Terrorism and global security|year=2007|publisher=Facts On File|isbn=978-0-8160-6766-4|page=25}} Another method of paper terrorism is filing bankruptcy petitions against others in an effort to ruin their credit ratings.{{citation|title='Paper terrorism' gaining adherents|last1=Maller |first1=Peter|publisher=Journal-Sentinel|date=September 3, 2002|first2=Lauria |last2=Lynch-German|url=http://www.jsonline.com/news/ozwash/sep02/71288.asp|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20050403213930/http://www.jsonline.com/news/ozwash/sep02/71288.asp|archivedate=April 3, 2005|access-date=October 6, 2022|url-status=bot: unknown}}

In the late 1990s,{{Cite book|title=Theorizing the standoff: contingency in action|last=Wagner-Pacifici |first=Robin|date=2000|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9780521654791|location=Cambridge|oclc=51052255}} the "Republic of Texas", a militia group claiming that Texas was legally independent, carried out what it called "a campaign of paper terrorism" using bogus land claims and bad checks to try to congest Texas courts.{{cite book|last=Hoffman|first=Bruce|title=Inside Terrorism|year=2006|edition=2nd|publisher=Columbia University Press|isbn=978-0-231-12699-1|page=105}}