White, Robert v. Emmerich, E.

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF WISCONSIN
ROBERT LEE WHITE, JR,
Plaintiff,
v.
WARDEN E. EMMERICH,
Defendant.
OPINION and ORDER
26-cv-168-jdp
Petitioner Robert Lee White, Jr, proceeding without counsel, is in the custody of the
federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) at the Federal Correctional Center in Oxford, Wisconsin.
White seeks a writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2241, challenging his 2020 conviction
for conspiring to distribute methamphetamine and for being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Petitioner has paid the filing fee and the petition is before the court for preliminary review
under Rule 4 of the Rules governing Section 2254 Cases, which is appliable to § 2241 cases
through Rule 1(b). Under Rule 4, I must dismiss the petition “if it plainly appears from the
petition and any attached exhibits that the petitioner is not entitled to relief.” In reviewing this
petition brought by an unrepresented petitioner, I must read the allegations generously,
holding them to a less stringent standard than formal pleadings drafted by lawyers. Arnett v.
Webster, 658 F.3d 742, 751 (7th Cir. 2011).
I will deny the petition as frivolous. White says that he is challenging the lack of “full
disclosure” by the courts regarding “who the subject was” in his criminal case, and he says that
following the 1933 “Emergency Banking Bankruptcy,” “all courts became military courts;
meaning, the collateral became the People.” Dkt. 1, at 2. White raises no substantive challenge
to his conviction or sentence other than long-discredited “sovereign citizen” theories of the
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government’s jurisdiction over individuals. The court of appeals has instructed district courts
to summarily reject these theories, and I will do so here. See United States v. Benabe, 654 F.3d
753, 767 (7th Cir. 2011) (“Regardless of an individual’s claimed status of descent, be it as a
‘sovereign citizen,’ a ‘secured-party creditor,’ or a ‘flesh-and-blood human being,’ that person
is not beyond the jurisdiction of the courts.”); Bey v. State of Indiana, 847 F.3d 559, 559–60
(7th Cir. 2017).
ORDER
IT IS ORDERED that:
1. 	Petitioner Robert Lee White, Jr.’s petition for writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C.
§ 2241, Dkt. 1, is DENIED, and this case is DISMISSED.
2. 	The clerk of court is directed to enter judgment for respondent and close this case.
Entered March 31, 2026.
BY THE COURT:
/s/
________________________________________
JAMES D. PETERSON
District Judge
Case: 3:26-cv-00168-jdp Document #: 3 Filed: 03/31/26 Page 2 of 2