ISSN: 2710-4028 DOI: doi.org/10.54208/1000/0006 135
• the submission of illegitimate court
documents
• challenges to the jurisdiction of courts and
government agencies
• unauthorized claims to act as someone’s legal
representative
• citation of irrelevant court cases
• misrepresentation of legal rules and
principles
• the claims that Texas is its own nation and
not part of the United States
• the conspiratorial claim that lawyers are part
of the “British Accreditation Registry” (i.e.,
“BAR” members) and therefore fraudulent
• accusing CPS of being a for-profit
corporation, and threats to sue CPS workers
and
• claims that one can copyright and/or
trademark their children’s names, and that
children are chattel property.
CPS to traffick them for financial reasons. Followers
of the Straights were encouraged to contact the news
agency who reported the story, and to threaten the
news agency with a lawsuit for printing “lies.”
F. Conclusion
Notably, these examples illustrate an increasing
intermixing of QAnon and sovereign citizen ideologies.
Until recently, these two sets of ideas remained
separate (ADL, 2022). Specifically, the QAnon ideology
contributes the idea that CPS trafficks children,
harvests their organs, sacrifices them, and performs
Satanic rituals. The sovereign citizen elements include:
In short, QAnon has contributed the mythical structure,
while the sovereign citizen movement provides a legal-
sounding scheme to respond to extraordinary, but
illusory, threats to parents and children.
IV. Specific Child Custody Cases That Involve
Individuals Who Believe In Both Sovereign Citizen
And QAnon Ideologies
The next section examines child custody cases involving
individuals whose beliefs span both sovereign citizen
and QAnon ideologies.
A. “Baby Cyrus,” Ammon Bundy, and the Resulting
Hospital Lawsuit
Ammon Bundy is a far-right, anti-government activist
who has long embraced sovereign citizen ideology,
and is now incorporating elements of QAnon beliefs.
In March 2022, Bundy was arrested outside St. Luke’s
Regional Medical Center in Idaho for misdemeanor
trespassing (Associated Press, 2022a). He was accused
of refusing to leave the hospital, in association with the
medical neglect of the grandson of one of Bundy’s close
associates, Diego Rodriguez (Neiwert, 2022a). Ten-
month-old “Baby Cyrus,” as he became known, was
removed from the care of his parents by police after the
parents refused to comply with CPS’s directions. CPS
investigators determined that the child was severely
malnourished.
Specific details regarding the medical condition of
the infant are not available due to confidentiality
requirements, but a lawsuit filed by St. Luke’s
Hospital System against Ammon Bundy and his
associates describes the course of events. According
to the lawsuit, the child was initially brought into the
emergency room by his parents, and was admitted.
The child struggled with oral feeding, yet the parents
repeatedly sought to take him home against the advice
of the hospital staff. After approximately four days
the infant was discharged. The hospital attempted
to arrange a follow-up visit, to no avail. The parents
did attend multiple follow-up appointments with a
provider not associated with the hospital. At one of
these appointments, the primary care physician (PCP)
asked the parents to bring the child back the following
day, but they did not comply. At that point, the infant
was determined to be in immediate danger. Authorities
were notified. The family refused to cooperate with
police, who concluded that a warrant was necessary to
forcibly obtain custody. While law enforcement sought
that warrant, the parents moved the child to a different
location. Eventually, police located the child, who was
taken into custody. Once at the hospital, the parents
refused to provide the medical information needed
for treatment. After being stabilized, the infant was
discharged to the parents for outpatient care (St. Luke’s
Health System v. Ammon Bundy, 2022).
• the submission of illegitimate court
documents
• challenges to the jurisdiction of courts and
government agencies
• unauthorized claims to act as someone’s legal
representative
• citation of irrelevant court cases
• misrepresentation of legal rules and
principles
• the claims that Texas is its own nation and
not part of the United States
• the conspiratorial claim that lawyers are part
of the “British Accreditation Registry” (i.e.,
“BAR” members) and therefore fraudulent
• accusing CPS of being a for-profit
corporation, and threats to sue CPS workers
and
• claims that one can copyright and/or
trademark their children’s names, and that
children are chattel property.
CPS to traffick them for financial reasons. Followers
of the Straights were encouraged to contact the news
agency who reported the story, and to threaten the
news agency with a lawsuit for printing “lies.”
F. Conclusion
Notably, these examples illustrate an increasing
intermixing of QAnon and sovereign citizen ideologies.
Until recently, these two sets of ideas remained
separate (ADL, 2022). Specifically, the QAnon ideology
contributes the idea that CPS trafficks children,
harvests their organs, sacrifices them, and performs
Satanic rituals. The sovereign citizen elements include:
In short, QAnon has contributed the mythical structure,
while the sovereign citizen movement provides a legal-
sounding scheme to respond to extraordinary, but
illusory, threats to parents and children.
IV. Specific Child Custody Cases That Involve
Individuals Who Believe In Both Sovereign Citizen
And QAnon Ideologies
The next section examines child custody cases involving
individuals whose beliefs span both sovereign citizen
and QAnon ideologies.
A. “Baby Cyrus,” Ammon Bundy, and the Resulting
Hospital Lawsuit
Ammon Bundy is a far-right, anti-government activist
who has long embraced sovereign citizen ideology,
and is now incorporating elements of QAnon beliefs.
In March 2022, Bundy was arrested outside St. Luke’s
Regional Medical Center in Idaho for misdemeanor
trespassing (Associated Press, 2022a). He was accused
of refusing to leave the hospital, in association with the
medical neglect of the grandson of one of Bundy’s close
associates, Diego Rodriguez (Neiwert, 2022a). Ten-
month-old “Baby Cyrus,” as he became known, was
removed from the care of his parents by police after the
parents refused to comply with CPS’s directions. CPS
investigators determined that the child was severely
malnourished.
Specific details regarding the medical condition of
the infant are not available due to confidentiality
requirements, but a lawsuit filed by St. Luke’s
Hospital System against Ammon Bundy and his
associates describes the course of events. According
to the lawsuit, the child was initially brought into the
emergency room by his parents, and was admitted.
The child struggled with oral feeding, yet the parents
repeatedly sought to take him home against the advice
of the hospital staff. After approximately four days
the infant was discharged. The hospital attempted
to arrange a follow-up visit, to no avail. The parents
did attend multiple follow-up appointments with a
provider not associated with the hospital. At one of
these appointments, the primary care physician (PCP)
asked the parents to bring the child back the following
day, but they did not comply. At that point, the infant
was determined to be in immediate danger. Authorities
were notified. The family refused to cooperate with
police, who concluded that a warrant was necessary to
forcibly obtain custody. While law enforcement sought
that warrant, the parents moved the child to a different
location. Eventually, police located the child, who was
taken into custody. Once at the hospital, the parents
refused to provide the medical information needed
for treatment. After being stabilized, the infant was
discharged to the parents for outpatient care (St. Luke’s
Health System v. Ammon Bundy, 2022).
