title: Legend of the Seeker

text: In South Africa, the show was picked up by pay TV operator M-Net, broadcasting on Saturday nights since July 2009. In Germany, it premiered on October 11, 2009 on ProSieben and airs Sundays around 5:00pm. In Singapore, it premiered October 15, airing on Thursdays at 2030hrs. In Poland, it premiered September 4, 2009 on TVP1 and airs on Fridays around 10:00pm. In Australia, it premiered on Fox8 on November 29. In Italy, the show premiered on Sky Uno on December 8, 2009. In Sweden, the series premiered on TV6 February 5 at 20.00 local time. In Ukraine, the series aired on 1+1 channel November 14 at 12.30 local time. In Norway, the first episode aired December 28, 2009 on Tv2 Zebra Sundays at 20.00 (Norwegian time). In Philippines, it is also aired in Studio 23. In Sri Lanka, the show was telecasted by ITN. It started telecasting it from August 2013. It aired on every Saturday and Sunday from 6.00 to 7.00pm local time. It was dubbed in Sinhala and renamed as "සත්‍ය ගවේෂක" (Sathya Gaveshaka).


title: Legend of the Seeker

text: The series premiere, which consisted of the first two episodes, received generally mixed reviews from critics, earning a 53 out of 100 average rating as calculated by Metacritic. It was criticized for not being as "fun" as "" and "" (also produced by Robert Tapert and Sam Raimi), and not having enough excitement. Another complaint about the show's premiere was its lack of distinguishing features and that it was "too derivative of other works" like "Star Wars" and "The Matrix", with the ""300"-style" slow-motion action sequences often cited as an example. Brian Lowry from "Variety" called the show "a hodgepodge of better sci-fi/fantasy fare", while Ray Richmond from "The Hollywood Reporter" described it as "[b]ig on style but more challenged in terms of substance" with "too little provocative/evocative interaction aside from the ultra-violent kind". Diana Steenbergen thought that the series' third episode was "far more entertaining than the previous two that were weighed down with too much exposition."


title: Legend of the Seeker

text: "Legend of the Seeker" was praised for its high production value and the use of New Zealand exteriors, with Robert Lloyd from "Los Angeles Times" commenting that the show is basically "good-looking fun". Although both Lloyd and Steenbergen from IGN commended the performances of the lead actors Craig Horner and Bridget Regan, they were not pleased with the supporting performances.


title: Legend of the Seeker

text: "Legend of the Seeker" premiered on the weekend of November 1–2, 2008 in the United States and attracted more than 4.1 million viewers over the two days. The first two episodes obtained an average of 1.5/3 Nielsen rating among 54 metered markets with a 1.4/3 rating on Saturday and a 1.7/3 rating on Sunday. In addition to improving its broadcast time periods in several top markets, "Legend" also improved the audience numbers in the key 18- to 49-year-old demographic in all airings. Over its first month of airing, the show averaged more than 3.6 million viewers. It was renewed for a second season after obtaining a 2.0 household rating average for its first ten episodes.


title: Legend of the Seeker

text: In 2009, the series won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Series. In 2010, the series was nominated for an Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music Emmy. In 2011, Costume Designer Jane Holland, Cinematographer Kevin Riley, and Sound Designer Chris Burt all won awards at the Aotearoa Film & Television Awards for their outstanding work on "Legend of the Seeker."


title: Regicide

text: Regicide is the purposeful killing of a monarch or sovereign of a polity and is often associated with the usurpation of power. A regicide can also be the person responsible for the killing. The word comes from the Latin roots of "regis" and "cida" ("cidium"), meaning "of monarch" and "killer" respectively.


title: Regicide

text: In the British tradition, it refers to the judicial execution of a king after a trial, reflecting the historical precedent of the trial and execution of Charles I of England. The concept of regicide has also been explored in media and the arts through pieces like "Macbeth" (Macbeth's killing of King Duncan) and "The Lion King".


title: Regicide

text: In Western Christianity, regicide was far more common prior to 1200/1300. Sverre Bagge counts 20 cases of regicide between 1200 and 1800, which means that 6% of monarchs were killed by their subjects. He counts 94 cases of regicide between 600 and 1200, which means that 21.8% of monarchs were killed by their subjects. He argues that the most likely reasons for the decline in regicide is that clear rules of succession were established, which made it hard to remove rightful heirs to the throne, and only made it so that the nearest heir (and their backers) had a motive to kill the monarch.


title: Regicide

text: There is evidence that regicide and the ability of states to keep or even expand their territories are negative correlated: Firstly, elite violence hindered the development of territorial state capacity, and the killing of rulers also directly resulted in a more likely loss of territory. And secondly, state capacity, reflected by territorial state capacity, could be hypothesized to have had a restraining effect on interpersonal violence. This would be consistent with Pinker’s (2011) view that modern state capacity leads to a reduction in violence, both interpersonal and in terms of military conflict.


title: Regicide

text: Before the Tudor period, English kings had been murdered while imprisoned (for example Edward II and Edward V) or killed in battle by their subjects (for example Richard III), but none of these deaths are usually referred to as regicide.


title: Regicide

text: The word regicide seems to have come into popular use among continental Catholics when Pope Sixtus V renewed the papal bull of excommunication against the "crowned regicide" Queen Elizabeth I, for—among other things—executing Mary, Queen of Scots, in 1587, although she had abdicated the Scottish crown some 20 years earlier. Elizabeth had originally been excommunicated by Pope Pius V, in "Regnans in Excelsis", for converting England to Protestantism after the reign of Mary I of England.


title: Regicide

text: After the First English Civil War, King Charles I was a prisoner of the Parliamentarians. They tried to negotiate a compromise with him, but he stuck steadfastly to his view that he was King by divine right and attempted in secret to raise an army to fight against them. It became obvious to the leaders of the Parliamentarians that they could not negotiate a settlement with him and they could not trust him to refrain from raising an army against them; they reluctantly came to the conclusion that he would have to be put to death. On 13 December 1648, the House of Commons broke off negotiations with the King. Two days later, the Council of Officers of the New Model Army voted that the King be moved from the Isle of Wight, where he was prisoner, to Windsor ""in order to the bringing of him speedily to justice"". Then in the middle of December, the King was moved from Windsor to St James's Palace, Westminster. The House of Commons of the Rump Parliament passed a Bill setting up a High Court of Justice in order to try Charles I for high treason 'in the name of the people of England.' From a Royalist and post-restoration perspective, this Bill was not lawful, as the House of Lords refused to pass it and it predictably failed to receive the Royal Assent. However, the Parliamentary leaders and the Army pressed on with the trial anyway.


title: Regicide

text: At his trial in the High Court of Justice on Saturday 20 January 1649 in Westminster Hall, Charles asked ""I would know by what power I am called hither. I would know by what authority, I mean lawful"". In view of the historic issues involved, both sides based themselves on surprisingly technical legal grounds. Charles did not dispute that Parliament as a whole did have some judicial powers, but he maintained that the House of Commons on its own could not try anybody, and so he refused to plead. At that time under English law, if a prisoner refused to plead, he would be treated identically to one who had pleaded guilty. This has since changed; a refusal to plead is now interpreted as a not-guilty plea.


title: Regicide

text: Charles was found guilty on Saturday 27 January 1649, and his death warrant was signed by fifty-nine commissioners. To show their agreement with the sentence of death, all of the Commissioners who were present rose to their feet.


title: Regicide

text: On the day of his execution, 30 January 1649, Charles dressed in two shirts so that he would not shiver from the cold, lest it be said that he was shivering from fear. His execution was delayed by several hours so that the House of Commons could pass an emergency bill to make it an offence to proclaim a new King, and to declare the representatives of the people, the House of Commons, as the source of all just power. Charles was then escorted through a window of the Banqueting House in the Palace of Whitehall to an outdoor scaffold where he would be beheaded. He forgave those who had passed sentence on him and gave instructions to his enemies that they should learn to ""know their duty to God, the King – that is, my successors – and the people"". He then gave a brief speech outlining his unchanged views of the relationship between the monarchy and the monarch's subjects, ending with the words ""I am the martyr of the people"". His head was severed from his body with one blow.


title: Regicide

text: One week later, the Rump, sitting in the House of Commons, passed a bill abolishing the monarchy. Ardent Royalists refused to accept it on the basis that there could never be a vacancy of the Crown. Others refused because, as the bill had not passed the House of Lords and did not have Royal Assent, it could not become an Act of Parliament.


title: Regicide

text: The Declaration of Breda eleven years later paved the way for the restoration of the monarchy in 1660. At the time of the restoration, thirty-one of the fifty-nine Commissioners who had signed the death warrant were living. Parliament, with the assent of the new king, Charles II, enacted the Indemnity and Oblivion Act, giving a general pardon to those who had committed crimes during the civil war and interregnum, but the regicides were among those excluded from it. A number fled. Some, such as Daniel Blagrave, fled to continental Europe, while others like John Dixwell, Edward Whalley, and William Goffe fled to New Haven, Connecticut. Those regicides who could be found and arrested were put on trial. Six were found guilty and suffered the fate of being hanged, drawn and quartered: Thomas Harrison, John Jones, Adrian Scrope, John Carew, Thomas Scot, and Gregory Clement. The captain of the guard at the trial, Daniel Axtell, who encouraged his men to barrack the King when he tried to speak in his own defence, an influential preacher, Hugh Peters, and the leading prosecutor at the trial, John Cook, were executed in a similar manner. Colonel Francis Hacker, who signed the order to the executioner of the king and commanded the guard around the scaffold and at the trial, was hanged. Concern amongst the royal ministers over the negative impact on popular sentiment of these public tortures and executions led to jail sentences being substituted for the remaining regicides.


title: Regicide

text: Some regicides, such as Richard Ingoldsby and Philip Nye, were conditionally pardoned, while a further nineteen served life imprisonment. The bodies of the regicides Cromwell, Bradshaw, and Ireton, which had been buried in Westminster Abbey, were disinterred and hanged, drawn and quartered in posthumous executions. In 1662, three more regicides, John Okey, John Barkstead and Miles Corbet, were also hanged, drawn and quartered. The officers of the court that tried Charles I, those who prosecuted him, and those who signed his death warrant, have been known ever since the restoration as regicides.


title: Regicide

text: The Parliamentary Archives in the Palace of Westminster, London, holds the original death warrant for Charles I.


title: Regicide

text: Some people throughout in the 1760–1850 period in England and Great Britain who have been suspected, arrested, and perhaps punished for trying to lethally harm the reigning monarch, which has sometimes been understood to be attempted "regicide", do not appear to have had the intention of actually killing the king or queen. According to Poole (2000), the actions and utterances of English figures such as Nicholson, Firth, Sutherland, Hadfield, Collins, Oxford, Francis and Bean, all of whom tried to get the monarch's attention for some matter, "point more often to physical remonstance after experiences of extreme frustration with an ineffectual petitioning process." Others who did try to kill the ruler did so not in order to replace the monarchy with a republic, but because they hoped that their successor would be a better ruler, and able to address certain issues which, in the would-be assassins' views, the current sovereign failed to properly act on. According to British radical orator John Thelwall (1764–1834), regicide was simply a means of replacing an unacceptable monarch with a better one.


title: Regicide

text: On 25 June 1836, a Frenchman named Alibaud attempted to assassinate the "July Monarch" Louis Philippe I by shooting him. At trial, Alibaud held the king responsible for the economic ruin of his family, compared himself to Marcus Junius Brutus (most well-known amongst the assassins of Julius Caesar), and stated: "Regicide is the right of all men who are debarred from any justice but that which they take into their own hands." He was executed by guillotine.


title: Regicide

text: Regicide has particular resonance within the concept of the divine right of kings, whereby monarchs were presumed by decision of God to have a divinely anointed authority to rule. As such, an attack on a king by one of his own subjects was taken to amount to a direct challenge to the monarch, to his divine right to rule, and thus to God's will.


title: Regicide

text: The biblical David refused to harm King Saul, because he was the Lord's anointed, even though Saul was seeking his life; and when Saul eventually was killed in battle and a person reported to David that he helped kill Saul, David put the man to death, even though Saul had been his enemy, because he had raised his hands against the Lord's anointed. Christian concepts of the inviolability of the person of the monarch have great influence from this story. Diarmait mac Cerbaill, King of Tara (mentioned above), was killed by Áed Dub mac Suibni in 565. According to Adomnan of Iona's Life of St Columba, Áed Dub mac Suibni received God's punishment for this crime by being impaled by a treacherous spear many years later and then falling from his ship into a lake and drowning.


title: Regicide

text: Even after the disappearance of the divine right of kings and the appearance of constitutional monarchies, the term continued and continues to be used to describe the murder of a king.


title: Regicide

text: In France, the judicial penalty for regicides (i.e. those who had murdered, or attempted to murder, the king) was especially hard, even in regard to the harsh judicial practices of pre-revolutionary France. As with many criminals, the regicide was tortured so as to make him tell the names of his accomplices. However, the method of execution itself was a form of torture. Here is a description of the death of Robert-François Damiens, who attempted to kill Louis XV:


title: Regicide

text: In "Discipline and Punish", the French philosopher Michel Foucault cites this case of Damiens the Regicide as an example of disproportionate punishment in the era preceding the "Age of Reason". The classical school of criminology asserts that the punishment "should fit the crime", and should thus be proportionate and not extreme. This approach was spoofed by Gilbert and Sullivan, when The Mikado sang, ""My object all sublime, I shall achieve in time, to let the punishment fit the crime"".


title: Regicide

text: In both the François Ravaillac and the Damiens cases, court papers refer to the offenders as a patricide, rather than as regicide, which lets one deduce that, through divine right, the king was also regarded as "Father of the country".


title: The Death of the Author

text: "The Death of the Author" (French: "La mort de l'auteur") is a 1967 essay by the French literary critic and theorist Roland Barthes (1915–1980). Barthes's essay argues against traditional literary criticism's practice of relying on the intentions and biography of an author to definitively explain the "ultimate meaning" of a text. Instead, the essay emphasizes the primacy of each individual reader's interpretation of the work over any "definitive" meaning intended by the author, a process in which subtle or unnoticed characteristics may be drawn out for new insight. The essay's first English-language publication was in the American journal "Aspen", no. 5–6 in 1967; the French debut was in the magazine "Manteia", no. 5 (1968). The essay later appeared in an anthology of Barthes's essays, "Image-Music-Text" (1977), a book that also included his "From Work to Text".


title: The Death of the Author

text: In his essay, Barthes argues against the method of reading and criticism that relies on aspects of an author's identity to distill meaning from the author's work. In this type of criticism against which he argues, the experiences and biases of the author serve as a definitive "explanation" of the text. For Barthes, however, this method of reading may be apparently tidy and convenient but is actually sloppy and flawed: "To give a text an author" and assign a single, corresponding interpretation to it "is to impose a limit on that text."


title: The Death of the Author

text: Readers must thus, according to Barthes, separate a literary work from its creator in order to liberate the text from interpretive tyranny (a notion similar to Erich Auerbach's discussion of narrative tyranny in biblical parables). Each piece of writing contains multiple layers and meanings. In a well-known passage, Barthes draws an analogy between text and textiles, declaring that a "text is a tissue [or fabric] of quotations," drawn from "innumerable centers of culture," rather than from one, individual experience. The essential meaning of a work depends on the impressions of the reader, rather than the "passions" or "tastes" of the writer; "a text's unity lies not in its origins," or its creator, "but in its destination," or its audience.


title: The Death of the Author

text: No longer the focus of creative influence, the author is merely a "scriptor" (a word Barthes uses expressively to disrupt the traditional continuity of power between the terms "author" and "authority"). The scriptor exists to produce but not to explain the work and "is born simultaneously with the text, is in no way equipped with a being preceding or exceeding the writing, [and] is not the subject with the book as predicate." Every work is "eternally written here and now," with each re-reading, because the "origin" of meaning lies exclusively in "language itself" and its impressions on the reader.


title: The Death of the Author

text: Barthes notes that the traditional critical approach to literature raises a thorny problem: how can we detect precisely what the writer intended? His answer is that we cannot. He introduces this notion of intention in the epigraph to the essay, taken from Honoré de Balzac's story "Sarrasine" in which a male protagonist mistakes a castrato for a woman and falls in love with him. When, in the passage, the character dotes over his perceived womanliness, Barthes challenges his own readers to determine who is speaking, and about what. "Is it Balzac the author professing 'literary' ideas on femininity? Is it universal wisdom? Romantic psychology? ... We can never know." Writing, "the destruction of every voice," defies adherence to a single interpretation or perspective. (Barthes returned to "Sarrasine" in his book "S/Z", where he gave the story a rigorous close reading.)


title: The Death of the Author

text: Acknowledging the presence of this idea (or variations of it) in the works of previous writers, Barthes cited in his essay the poet Stéphane Mallarmé, who said that "it is language which speaks." He also recognized Marcel Proust as being "concerned with the task of inexorably blurring ... the relation between the writer and his characters"; the Surrealist movement for employing the practice of "automatic writing" to express "what the head itself is unaware of"; and the field of linguistics as a discipline for "showing that the whole of enunciation is an empty process." Barthes's articulation of the death of the author is a radical and drastic recognition of this severing of authority and authorship. Instead of discovering a "single 'theological' meaning (the 'message' of the Author-God)," readers of a text discover that writing, in reality, constitutes "a multi-dimensional space," which cannot be "deciphered," only "disentangled."


title: The Death of the Author

text: "Refusing to assign a 'secret', an ultimate meaning" to text "liberates what may be called an anti-theological activity, an activity that is truly revolutionary since to refuse meaning is, in the end, to refuse God and his hypostases—reason, science, law."


title: The Death of the Author

text: Ideas presented in "The Death of the Author" were anticipated to some extent by New Criticism, a school of literary criticism important in the United States from the 1940s to the 1970s. New Criticism differs from Barthes's theory of critical reading because it attempts to arrive at more authoritative interpretations of texts. Nevertheless, the crucial New Critical precept of the "intentional fallacy" declares that a poem does not belong to its author; rather, "it is detached from the author at birth and goes about the world beyond his power to intend about it or control it. The poem belongs to the public." Barthes himself stated that the difference between his theory and New Criticism comes in the practice of "disentangling". Barthes's work has much in common with the ideas of the "Yale school" of deconstructionist critics, which numbered among its proponents Paul de Man and Barbara Johnson in the 1970s, although they are not inclined to see meaning as the production of the reader. Barthes, like the deconstructionists, insists upon the disjointed nature of texts, their fissures of meaning and their incongruities, interruptions, and breaks. A. D. Nuttall's essay "Did Meursault Mean to Kill the Arab? The Intentional Fallacy Fallacy" ("Critical Quarterly" 10:1–2, June 1968, pp. 95–106) exposes the logical flaws in the "Intentional fallacy" argument.


title: The Death of the Author

text: Michel Foucault also addressed the question of the author in critical interpretation. In his 1969 essay "What is an Author?", he developed the idea of "author function" to explain the author as a classifying principle within a particular discursive formation. Foucault did not mention Barthes in his essay but its analysis has been seen as a challenge to Barthes's depiction of a historical progression that will liberate the reader from domination by the author.


title: The Death of the Author

text: Jacques Derrida paid ironic homage to Barthes's "The Death of the Author" in his essay "The Deaths of Roland Barthes".


title: The Death of the Author

text: Literary theorist Seán Burke dedicated an entire book to opposing "The Death of the Author", pointedly called "The Death and Return of the Author".


title: The Death of the Author

text: In the satirical essay "Roland Barthes' Resurrection of the Author and Redemption of Biography" ("Cambridge Quarterly" 29:4, 2000, pp. 386–393), J.C. Carlier (a pseudonym of Cedric Watts, Research Professor of English at the University of Sussex) argues that the essay "The Death of the Author" is the litmus test of critical competence. Those who take it literally automatically fail that test; those who take it ironically and recognize a work of fine satiric fiction are those who pass the test.


title: The Death of the Author

text: Scholarship on pedagogy has also taken up several themes from “Death of the Author” and applied them to different domains of academic and instructional research. While specific projects vary, concerns across research construct theoretical frameworks that rely on Barthes's notion of emphasizing the reader's impressions in textual practices. However, viewed through a pedagogical lens, researchers regard encounters between students and texts as dialogic, empowering transactions that should draw on the student's knowledge to take on language's multiplicity. Along these lines, scholarship has explored broad and varied topics within pedagogy, such as information literacy instruction, critical thinking skills and literary interpretation, academic subjectivity, and writing pedagogies. For example, a model of information literacy instruction for librarians extends Barthes's idea of deemphasizing author-centered ways of understanding texts by promoting dialogues between librarians and students. The goal of this model is for the librarian to listen to the student's values and beliefs and move from being a “fact provider” and adopt a “learner-centered” approach. Additional research on developing critical thinking skills in interpreting literary texts extends this idea of shifting responsibility of learning onto the learner. Specific to the classroom environment, this research considers how literature can be used as a conceptual link for students to bridge the classroom content to the outside world. In a Barthesian tradition, its pedagogical aim stresses the students subjectivity by scaffolding literary questions that start at the surface but eventually rise to an interpretive level encouraging students to express their own views. Importantly, personal response is emphasized in this model over “right or wrong” answers.


title: The Death of the Author

text: Other research has drawn on “Death of the Author” only to subvert its original ideas of disrupting the singularity of author-centered literary criticism and interpretation by suggesting collaborative methods of authorship that enable plural pathways of knowledge. For example, in a recent attempt to challenge the “individualist author model of scholarship in the humanities,” scholars experimented with forms of peer production and publishing by pursuing an authorial collaboration of writing among scholars. Although the model articulates an authorial stance, it advances Barthes's ideas of encouraging multiple perspectives, interpretations, and ideological positions through the use of language by rendering authorship a pursuit of collective intelligence that calls into question traditional norms of scholarship. Additional studies further this notion with nuanced attention to collective authorship. The first explores having a group of youth with disabilities convey their life-narratives through fictional stories, while the second looks at teacher candidates writing autobiographies with specific attention to their values about teaching. Both take up the idea of a text's potential for dialogic engagement with its constructor of meaning, and how that dialogic process is essential for self-reflexivity and empowerment in the literacy process.


title: The Death of the Author

text: Themes from Roland Barthes's essay have also been applied to research on critical pedagogy. Previous research projects have emphasized foregrounding students' knowledge in literacy practices, and in this way stress Barthes's central idea of relying on the reader's impressions for literary study. These studies advocate learning for students that is dialogic in nature, claiming that students should arrive at their own knowledge by exploring and questioning a text's multiple meanings. While the theoretical frameworks, methods, research designs, and audiences of particular studies vary, the central idea across projects, commonly seen in constructivist methods of pedagogy, is to increase a sense of student ownership and autonomy by having them consider multiple forms of knowledge against their own beliefs and values. For example, in one study, a model of information literacy instruction encourages a conversational approach to recommending and locating texts between librarians and students, rather than only suggesting texts by genre or author names. These projects extend one of Barthes's underlying points in his essay in which he emphasizes trusting subjective knowledge over depending on traditional and authoritative bodies of knowledge.


title: The Death of the Author

text: Other research has subverted Barthes's original thesis of disrupting author-centered literary criticism by suggesting collaborative methods of authorship. These studies describe writing models in which multiple authors "co-construct" stories and articles together, inviting writers to contribute their own ideas and knowledge and create a product that resembles an assemblage of voices and perspectives. Although the premise of these models advance the author's position, the collective, peer-based process of how these texts are constructed challenge traditional authority of singular authorship. These studies extend Barthes's initial ideas of how a text contains multiple ideological positions and interpretive possibilities, as well as disputing authorial influence and force, by offering a democratic and pluralistic framework for authorship.


title: Juan Ponce Enrile

text: Juan Valentin Furagganan Ponce Enrile Sr., (born Juanito Furagganan; February 14, 1924), also referred to by his initials JPE, or Manong Johnny, is a Filipino politician and lawyer known for his role in the administration of Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos; his role in the failed coup that helped hasten the 1986 People Power Revolution and the ouster of Marcos; and his tenure in the Philippine legislature in the years after the revolution. In 2022, at the age of 98, he returned to government office as the Chief Presidential Legal Counsel in the administration of Bongbong Marcos.


title: Juan Ponce Enrile

text: Enrile was a protégé of President Ferdinand Marcos and served as Justice Secretary and Defense Minister during the Marcos administration. Enrile played a key role in the planning and documentary legwork for Martial Law, and was in charge of the Philippine Military during its implementation. Other roles in this period included Presidency of the Philippine Coconut Authority through which he gained control of the copra industry together with Danding Cojuangco, and being the general put in charge of logging in the Philippines under martial law - a period during which lumber exports were so extensive that the forest cover of the Philippines shrank until only 8% remained. By the 1980s, however, rising factionalism in the Marcos administration led to a reduction in Enrile's influence within the administration.


title: Juan Ponce Enrile

text: Enrile and the Reform the Armed Forces Movement organized a plot to overthrow Marcos in February 1986, but they were discovered. Deciding to stage a last stand in Camp Aguinaldo, Enrile sought support from other units of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and received it from Philippine Constabulary General Fidel Ramos in nearby Camp Crame, who joined Enrile in withdrawing support for Marcos in February 1986. Marcos moved to put down the dissenters in Camps Aguinaldo and Crame, buyt civilians who were already preparing mass protests in response to electoral fraud during the 1986 Philippine presidential election went en masse to Epifanio de los Santos Avenue near Enrile and Ramos's forces, and prevented Marcos from assaulting the coup organizers. This mass movement of citizens to protect Enrile and Ramos was one of the key moments of the 1986 People Power Revolution which drove Marcos out of power and into exile. Enrile has continued to be a politician since 1986; he was the Senate President from November 2008 until his resignation on June 5, 2013. He remained a Senator until 2016, latterly as Minority Leader.


title: Juan Ponce Enrile

text: Enrile was born in Gonzaga, Cagayan, to Petra Furagganan, the stepdaughter of a poor fisherman. He was born out of wedlock—his Spanish "mestizo" father was the powerful regional politician and renowned lawyer Alfonso Ponce Enrile, who was already married. His second great-uncle was Mariano Ponce. He was baptized into the Philippine Independent Church (Aglipayan) as Juanito Furagganan. As a young man, he was reunited with his father in the City of Manila and took his secondary education at Saint James Academy in Malabon. His father took legal steps in changing his name to Juan Ponce Enrile, the name that he would use for his pre-law enrollment.


title: Juan Ponce Enrile

text: He graduated cum laude in 1949 with an Associate of Arts degree from Ateneo de Manila University. Afterward, he attended the University of the Philippines College of Law and graduated "cum laude" with a Bachelor of Laws degree. While in law school, he joined the Sigma Rho fraternity, the oldest law-based fraternity in Asia with other Senate colleagues such as Franklin Drilon and father and son duo Edgardo Angara and Sonny Angara among many others. Upon graduation, he was elected to the Pi Gamma Mu and Phi Kappa Phi international honor societies. He scored 11th in the 1953 bar examinations with a 91.72% rating and a perfect score in mercantile law. As a scholar at Harvard Law School, he earned a Master of Laws degree with specialized training in international tax law.


title: Juan Ponce Enrile

text: He taught law at the Far Eastern University and practiced law in his father's law firm before taking responsibility for then-Senator Ferdinand Marcos' personal legal affairs in 1964, especially during the latter's term as Senate President. After Marcos was elected president in 1965, Enrile became part of his inner circle.


title: Juan Ponce Enrile

text: Enrile, like Marcos, comes from the northern Philippines, a region that had become Marcos' recruiting ground for key political and military leaders during his time. Enrile was with Marcos since his election in 1965. His campaign efforts were rewarded with an appointment as chief of the Bureau of Customs and the government's service insurance commission.


title: Juan Ponce Enrile

text: From 1966 to 1968, he was the Undersecretary and sometime Acting Secretary of the Department of Finance. He concurrently became acting Insurance Commissioner and Commissioner of the Bureau of Customs. From 1968 to 1970, he was the Secretary of Justice.


title: Juan Ponce Enrile

text: The Department of National Defense would expand its power when Marcos assumed the presidency in 1965. Marcos appointed Enrile as his Secretary of National Defense on February 9, 1970, a position Enrile held until August 27, 1971, when he resigned to run unsuccessfully for the senate. He was re-appointed Defense Secretary by Marcos on January 4, 1972. As Defense Secretary, he was the highest-ranked commissioned officer of a nation's armed forces.


title: Juan Ponce Enrile

text: From the beginning of Marcos' period in government, Enrile was one of the few that the former president trusted, and was seen by many as Marcos' protégé. For almost the entire period of Martial Law, Enrile served officially as the martial law administrator as he was in charge of all the armed forces' services during that time. Furthermore, as early as Marcos' planning and preparation for the declaration of martial law, Enrile was involved. In his memoir, Enrile recalls Marcos' careful preparations. He narrates that as early as December 1969, Marcos instructed him to study the 1935 Constitution, specifically the powers of the President as Commander-in-Chief. Marcos had already foreseen a rise in violence and chaos in the country and wanted to know the exact extent of his powers.


title: Juan Ponce Enrile

text: At the end of January of the following year, Enrile, with help from Efren Plana and Minerva Gonzaga Reyes, submitted the only copy of the report regarding the detailed nature and extent of Martial Law to Marcos. Soon after, Marcos allegedly ordered Enrile to prepare all documents necessary for the implementation of Martial Law in the Philippines. In August 1972, Marcos once again met with Enrile and a few of his other most trusted commanders to discuss tentative dates for the declaration. By September 22, 1972, Marcos announced that he had placed the entire country under Martial Law as of 9 p.m. via proclamation 1081 which, he claimed, he had signed on September 21, 1972.


title: Juan Ponce Enrile

text: One of Marcos' justifications for the declaration of martial law that year was terrorism. He cited the alleged ambush attack on Enrile's white Mercedes-Benz sedan on September 22, 1972, as a pretext for martial law. At the time, many people doubted that the attack took place. Marcos, in his diary entry for September 1972, wrote that Enrile had been ambushed near Wack-Wack that night. He says "it was a good thing he was riding in his security car as a protective measure... This makes the martial law proclamation a necessity."


title: Juan Ponce Enrile

text: The doubts surrounding the alleged ambush were further confirmed in a press conference on February 23, 1986, when then Lieutenant General Fidel Ramos and Enrile admitted that the attack was staged to justify the declaration of martial law. Both radio and television media covered this and millions of Filipinos witnessed the said confession. Furthermore, in several interviews, Enrile was reported as indeed confirming that the attempted assassination was faked to justify the declaration of Martial Law. Conflicting accounts arise in his book, "Juan Ponce Enrile: A Memoir". In the said book, Enrile accuses his political opponents of spreading rumors of the ambush being staged despite having already admitted several times that the attempted assassination was indeed fake.


title: Juan Ponce Enrile

text: Despite the later controversy, at the time, Enrile remained one of Marcos' most loyal allies. In 1973, under the new modified parliamentary system then in place under the country's new constitution under Martial Law, Enrile's title became Defense Minister. Enrile focused his efforts on a broad review of defense policies and on dealing with pressing social unrest. The abolition of civilian institutions such as Congress, the weakening of the judiciary, and the outlawing of political parties, left the military as the only other instrumentality of the national government outside of the Presidency.


title: Juan Ponce Enrile

text: According to the National Historical Commission of the Philippines, Enrile was also appointed as the general for logging in the Philippines during martial law. He was tasked by Marcos to give certificates to logging companies, which eventually led to one of Asia's most devastating environmental disasters. During that time, the forest cover of the Philippines shrank until only 8% remained. Enrile also owned numerous logging companies such as Ameco in Bukidnon, Dolores Timber in Samar, San Jose Timber in Northern Samar, Kasilagan Softwood Development Corp in Butuan, Eurasia Match in Cebu, Pan Oriental which operates in Cebu and Butuan, Palawan-Apitong Corp in Palawan, and Royal Match. He also invested heavily in a rubber plantation in Basilan. A share of Marcos's ill-gotten wealth was siphoned into tintose companies.


title: Juan Ponce Enrile

text: Enrile was also appointed by Marcos as the President of the Philippine Coconut Authority, where he established control of the copra industry together with Danding Cojuangco. The two ruled over the controversial Coco Levy Fund which proved their intense corruption in government service. The fund, which was supposed to be used to improve the country's copra industry, was used by the two for programs led by Imelda Marcos and other Marcos cronies. A huge portion of the fund was also used for the presidential campaigns of Ferdinand Marcos in 1983.


title: Juan Ponce Enrile

text: With rising factionalism in the Marcos administration towards its latter years, Enrile's influence began to be reduced. On November 28, 1978, Marcos issued the Letter of Instruction no. 776, which stated that "No changes of assignment of senior officers including provincial commanders, brigade commanders, division commanders, and special unit commanders shall be made without clearance from the president." By the 1980s, Marcos began to more aggressively bypass Enrile's authority. He clipped the powers of the Minister of National Defense and the Chief of Staff over the Armed Forces of the Philippines.


title: Juan Ponce Enrile

text: After opposition leader Senator Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino, Jr. was assassinated on August 21, 1983, Enrile started to break away from the increasingly unpopular Marcos dictatorship. He began aligning himself with dissident elements in the army, particularly the Reform the Armed Forces Movement (RAM) - which was then headed by his aide-de-camp, Lieutenant Colonel Gregorio Honasan.


title: Juan Ponce Enrile

text: In a 1986 press conference, Enrile is quoted as having said: As far back as 1982, we have been getting persistent reports that there were efforts to eliminate us . . . and it was [at] that point that we decided to organize a group to protect ourselves . . . now known as the AFP Reform Movement.


title: Juan Ponce Enrile

text: Under pressure from the US Government, Marcos agreed to hold the 1986 Philippine presidential election on February 7, 1986. Despite widespread allegations of fraud, which included a protest walkout by-election tabulators, Marcos was proclaimed the winner against his opponent Corazon Aquino on February 15. Aquino protested and declared victory, launching a civil disobedience campaign at a massive rally in Luneta on February 16, 1986, and then going to Cebu to organize more mass protests.


title: Juan Ponce Enrile

text: Officers from the Reform the Armed Forces Movement, with Enrile's support, had been planning to launch a "coup d'état" against Marcos since 1985, which they delayed when Marcos announced the 1986 election. Enrile and the RAM decided to launch the coup against Marcos in February 1986 in order to take advantage of the political instability in the wake of the controversial election. However, this RAM coup d'etat failed when it was discovered by Ver in the early morning hours of February 22, 1986 - a day before it was supposed to be implemented.


title: Juan Ponce Enrile

text: At two PM on February 22, 1986, Enrile asked for the support of then Lieutenant General Fidel Ramos, the head of the Philippine Constabulary and concurrent vice-chief of staff of the armed forces, who agreed to join Enrile. With the plot already uncovered by Marcos, Enrile decided to encamp at Aguinaldo in Quezon City, across the Epifanio de los Santos Avenue from Ramos' headquarters in Camp Crame. With their forces trapped in the two camps 5 PM on February 22, Enrile called Manila Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin, asking for support. Enrile is quoted as having told Cardinal Sin:"I will be dead within one hour. I don't want to die... If it is possible, do something. I'd still like to live."


title: Juan Ponce Enrile

text: Shortly after 10 PM a few hours later, Cardinal Sin went on the air through Radio Veritas to appeal to Filipinos in the area to support Enrile and Ramos by going to the section of Epifanio de Los Santos Avenue (EDSA) between the two camps, giving the rebels emotional support and supplies. Already prepared for protests linked to Aquino's civil disobedience campaign, People began gathering at EDSA, and this was the beginning of the citizens' revolt that became known as the People Power Revolution.


title: Juan Ponce Enrile

text: For the next three days, they continued their rally in EDSA now containing two million people in support. The growing number encouraged many more leaders to support the movement against Marcos. Enrile stated: "It was funny... We in the defense and military organizations who should be protecting the people were being protected by them."


title: Juan Ponce Enrile

text: Enrile wanted Corazon Aquino to hold her inauguration as new president in Camp Crame, but Aquino refused, emphasizing that the People Power Revolution was a civilian victory by the Filipino people, not by a rebel military faction. She held her inauguration on February 25, 1986, at the nearby Club Filipino instead, with Enrile and Ramos invited only as guests. The People Power Revolution forced Marcos out of power on February 25, 1986, and Marcos, along with his family, some servants, and millions of dollars in stocks, jewelry, and cash, flew to exile in Hawaii on US Government-provided DC-9 Medivac and C-141B planes.


title: Juan Ponce Enrile

text: Enrile then served as the Secretary of National Defense under Corazon Aquino, who had replaced Marcos as president, but he increasingly differed with Aquino, specifically on the administration's handling of insurgent leftist opposition. Aquino sought to make peace with the communist party of the Philippines through the use and promotions of ceasefires during which peace talks were to be held between the government and the leftist opposition.


title: Juan Ponce Enrile

text: Because of such tactics, Enrile was not the only person dissatisfied with the Aquino administration. Many of the younger officers in the military who had been identified as members of the Reform the Armed Forces Movement and Marcos loyalists sought to oust Aquino from the presidency with the many coups that were plotted from 1986 to 1990.


title: Juan Ponce Enrile

text: The earliest and most prominent one was the "God Save the Queen" plot that was to supposedly take place on November 11, 1986.


title: Juan Ponce Enrile

text: The investigation of the coup done by the Fact-Finding Commission found Enrile and some members of the RAM as the primary instigators of the coup. After revealing the fruits of the investigation findings, Aquino forced Enrile to resign as Defense Secretary in November 1986 as she had lost confidence in him. Enrile was then replaced with Rafael Ileto.


title: Juan Ponce Enrile

text: In May 1987 Enrile won a seat in the 1987 election as one of two opposition members in the country's 24-member Senate (the other being Joseph Estrada), finishing 24th. He was unable to be proclaimed until August when the electoral protest filed by Augusto Sanchez was dismissed. He formally assumed office on August 15, 1987. In the same month, an attempted coup against Aquino escalated and led to the destruction of the Armed Forces General Headquarters (AFPGHQ) in Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City. He was detained in Camp Aguinaldo over suspicion of planning the coup with Lt. Col. Gregorio Honasan but was released days later for lack of evidence. Enrile later stated numerous recalls about the martial law era, of which all were flip-flops from his previous statements during his term as secretary of defense and during the ouster of Marcos. He was dubbed by then-President Corazon Aquino as ""Pambansang Balimbing"" (national political turncoat) for his contradicting statements and ""Dakilang Miron"" (great bystander) for his inconvenient bystander and opportunistic attitude.


title: Juan Ponce Enrile

text: In 1992, before his term in the Senate had ended, Enrile predicted that he might lose the senatorial election or win, but only serve three years in office. Under the transitory provisions of the 1987 Constitution, the 12 candidates who receive the greatest number of votes serve a six-year term, the next 12 only three years. He ran instead for the House of Representatives of the Philippines. He was elected and represented the First District of Cagayan.


title: Juan Ponce Enrile

text: In 1995 Enrile ran in the senatorial race as an independent candidate for senator and was also a guest candidate under the Lakas–Laban coalition. He won as a senator and held the position until 2001. During his term as senator, he ran as an independent candidate in the 1998 election for the position of President. He lost to then-Vice Joseph Estrada.


title: Juan Ponce Enrile

text: On January 13, 2001, he was one of those who voted against the opening of the second bank envelope. That vote led to the second EDSA People Power Revolution that eventually ousted President Estrada. From April 30 to May 1, 2001, together with Miriam Defensor Santiago, Gregorio Honasan, Panfilo Lacson and Vicente Sotto III, he led the EDSA III protests in support of Joseph Estrada. On May 1, 2001, the protesters stormed Malacañang Palace. In May 2001 he was indicted by the military for the investigation of the unsuccessful siege of Malacañan Palace by pro-Estrada forces but was released a day later. He ran for reelection as part of the Puwersa ng Masa coalition. Due to the issues that haunted him over the failed siege, he lost the election.


title: Juan Ponce Enrile

text: In the 2004 election, he made a comeback bid for the Senate under the Koalisyon ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino (KNP) banner. He actively opposed the imposition of the Purchased Power Adjustment (PPA) on consumers' electric bills. Due to his exposé of the PPA and the Supreme Court decision in favor of a refund on electric bills, the public responded positively and elected him. He thus became a senator in three non-consecutive terms. He was re-elected as a senator in the 2010 elections. He became the oldest senator of the 15th Congress of the Philippines. Enrile was affiliated with the opposition Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino (PMP) but officially stood as an independent and was part of the administration bloc.


title: Juan Ponce Enrile

text: On November 17, 2008, Senate President Manuel Villar resigned due to a lack of support, and Enrile succeeded him the same day. Enrile was nominated by Panfilo Lacson; 14 senators supported the nomination and five abstained.


title: Juan Ponce Enrile

text: Under his leadership, the Senate passed vital pieces of legislation such as the CARP Extension, Anti-Torture Act, Expanded Senior Citizens Act, Anti-Child Pornography Act, National Heritage Conservation Act, and Real Estate Investment Act, among many others. Institutional reforms were also implemented within the Senate to improve the daily conduct of business as well the welfare of its officers and employees.


title: Juan Ponce Enrile

text: The Senate also collaborated with the House of Representatives on two crucial issues which are now considered historical milestones. In December 2009, it used Proclamation No. 1959 of the previous administration, declaring a state of martial law and suspending the privilege of the writ of "habeas corpus" in the province of Maguindanao, while in May 2010, Congress convened to constitute itself as the national board to canvass the votes for president and vice president, and proclaim the winners.


title: Juan Ponce Enrile

text: Enrile was re-elected to a fourth term in the 2010 Senate election. On July 26, 2010, he was re-elected President of the Senate. Enrile committed himself to "discharge my duties and responsibilities with honor, with total devotion to our institution, and with fairness to all members. No partisan consideration will blur or color the treatment of any member of the Senate. We are all Senators elected by the people to serve them with the dedication to their interest and well-being and devotion to our responsibilities." Furthermore, in his acceptance speech, he enjoined his colleagues to "uphold the independence and integrity of this Senate, without abandoning our duty to cooperate with the other departments of the government to achieve what is good for our people."


title: Juan Ponce Enrile

text: In early 2012, Enrile was the presiding officer of the impeachment of Chief Justice Renato Corona. He was one of the 20 Senators who voted guilty for the impeachment. In September 2012, he started a feud with Antonio Trillanes when he asked Trillanes why he secretly visited Beijing to talk about the Philippines and the Spratly Islands dispute on Spratlys and the Scarborough Shoal. Trillanes said that his visit to China was authorized by the Palace. He also alleged that Enrile was being pushed by former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to pass a bill splitting the province of Camarines Sur into two but Enrile denied the allegation.


title: Juan Ponce Enrile

text: In late 2012, Enrile also started a feud with Miriam Defensor Santiago when Santiago authored the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Act of 2012 with Pia Cayetano, which he opposed. In January 2013, Santiago alleged that Enrile gave PHP1.6 million each to his fellow Senators, except for her, Pia Cayetano, Alan Peter Cayetano, and Trillanes, who was reported to have been only given PHP250 thousand each. He admitted giving the said amount to the senators, saying that it was part of the balance of the maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE) funds allowed per senator. On January 21, 2013, because of the controversies involving him, he attempted to vacate his position as Senate President but his motion was rejected.


title: Juan Ponce Enrile

text: Amid accusations against him, including the alleged distribution of MOOE funds to senators, Enrile stepped down as Senate President after his privilege speech on June 5, 2013.


title: Juan Ponce Enrile

text: Enrile quietly bowed out of politics after his term in the Senate ended in 2016, but tried to make a comeback in 2019. He placed 22nd in a field of 62 candidates. In 2022 he officially returned as government as Chief Presidential Legal Counsel in the administration of President Bongbong Marcos, whom he supported for president in elections that year. He played a role in forcing the resignation of Marcos' Executive Secretary Vic Rodriguez on September 17 by rejecting the latter's appointing of himself as Presidential Chief of Staff with extensive powers.


title: Juan Ponce Enrile

text: In January 2013, while sitting as the Senate President, Enrile was accused of using Senate funds called MOOE as Christmas gifts to members of the Senate who do not oppose him. This led to his resignation as Senate President without sufficiently answering the controversy.


title: Juan Ponce Enrile

text: In September 2013, Enrile was again involved in misappropriated funds, this time about the PDAF or what is commonly called the pork barrel fund. Twenty billion pesos worth of Priority Development Fund was illegally channeled through various bogus NGOs of Janet Napoles most of it being used by the Senator.


title: Juan Ponce Enrile

text: Enrile, along with fellow senators Bong Revilla, and Jinggoy Estrada, were indicted for plunder and for the violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act before the Sandiganbayan on June 6, 2014, in connection to the Priority Development Assistance Fund scam. Alleged mastermind Janet Lim Napoles and Enrile's former chief of staff Gigi Reyes were also charged. Enrile allegedly received ₱172 million in kickbacks from public funds. He was detained on July 3, 2014 and suspended from his Senate post on September 1, 2014, for these charges, after his motions to post bail to lift the suspension order were denied.


title: Juan Ponce Enrile

text: Enrile, or ""Manong Johnny"" as he is often called ("manong" is an Ilocano term of endearment for an older brother), is married to Cristina Castañer (born in 1937) who has served as the Philippine Ambassador to the Holy See. They have two children: Juan Jr. (Jack) and Katrina. Juan Jr. is a former congressman for the 1st District of Cagayan who unsuccessfully ran for a Senate seat under UNA in 2013, while Katrina is currently CEO of Enrile's company Jaka Group, which owns the Philippine Match Company. Enrile has a half-sister, Armida Siguion-Reyna, who was a singer as well as a theatre and film actress.


title: Juan Ponce Enrile

text: Enrile's rumored affair with his former long-time employee and chief of staff Jessica Lucila "Gigi" Reyes, 38 years his junior, came out after reports that Enrile's wife, Cristina, walked out on him in January 1998 after charging him with adultery. The news made both local and international headlines. Gigi Reyes was regarded as "the door, if not the bridge" to Enrile, referring to the extent of closeness between the two. Enrile's special fondness for Reyes was again called out by Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano after Reyes accused Cayetano in a media interview of hypocrisy for supposedly receiving a "cash gift" from Enrile. The incident led to Reyes's resignation from Enrile's office, which Reyes said was also for her criticizing how Enrile responded to the issue of fund misuse. Enrile insisted the resignation was because of rumors of their illicit relationship. Reyes's name was once again linked to Enrile's name for signing documents that facilitated the release of Enrile's PDAF to fake non-governmental organizations (NGOs) linked to Janet Lim Napoles, the woman who is said to be behind the PDAF scam.


title: Juan Ponce Enrile

text: In 2007, Enrile's fraternity, Sigma Rho, was implicated in the death of a UP student who allegedly died during an initiation rite with the fraternity. As a result of the widely-publicized backlash against Sigma Rho, Enrile labeled his fraternity brothers "Trainor of thugs and killers" and urged his "broads" to surrender those who were responsible for the death of Cris Mendez. "I am calling on them to initiate the effort to ferret out the people responsible and kick them out of the fraternity and if necessary kick them out of school", Enrile added.


title: Juan Ponce Enrile

text: On August 21, 2007, the 24th anniversary of Senator Aquino's death, Enrile stated that the case of the 14 soldiers incarcerated for 24 years for Aquino's assassination should be reviewed for clemency. Enrile paid for the legal services of the soldiers during their trial and said the soldiers and their families had suffered enough. They were initially acquitted in December 1985 by the Sandiganbayan's Manuel Pamaran, but after the proceedings were invalidated by the Supreme Court and the case retried, the Sandiganbayan's Regino C. Hermosisima Jr. convicted them on September 28, 1990. Fifteen soldiers of the Aviation Security Command had been sentenced to double life imprisonment for the double murder of Aquino and Rolando Galman, who was falsely accused of Aquino's assassination.


title: Bundy standoff

text: The 2014 Bundy standoff was an armed confrontation between supporters of cattle rancher Cliven Bundy and law enforcement following a 21-year legal dispute in which the United States Bureau of Land Management (BLM) obtained court orders directing Bundy to pay over $1 million in withheld grazing fees for Bundy's use of federally owned land adjacent to Bundy's ranch in southeastern Nevada.


title: Bundy standoff

text: On March 27, 2014, 145,604 acres (589 km) of federal land in Clark County were temporarily closed for the "capture, impound, and removal of trespass cattle." BLM officials and law enforcement rangers began a roundup of such livestock on April 5, and Cliven Bundy's son, Dave, was arrested. On April 12, 2014, a group of protesters, some of them armed, approached the BLM "cattle gather." Sheriff Doug Gillespie negotiated with Bundy and newly confirmed BLM director, Neil Kornze, who elected to release the cattle and de-escalate the situation. As of the end of 2015, Cliven Bundy continued to graze his cattle on federal land and still had not paid the grazing fees.


title: Bundy standoff

text: The ongoing dispute started in 1993, when, in protest against changes in grazing rules, Bundy declined to renew his permit for cattle grazing on BLM-administered public lands near Bunkerville, Nevada. According to Bundy, the federal government lacks the constitutional authority to own vast tracts of lands, an argument repeatedly rejected by federal courts. According to the BLM, Bundy continued to graze his cattle on public lands without a permit. In 1998, Bundy was prohibited by the United States District Court for the District of Nevada from grazing his cattle on an area of land later called the Bunkerville Allotment. In July 2013, federal judge Lloyd D. George ordered Bundy to refrain from trespassing on federally administered land in the Gold Butte area of Clark County.


title: Bundy standoff

text: Cliven and his son Ammon Bundy, and their supporters, have claimed that the federal government lacks the authority to manage public lands. These arguments have been repeatedly rejected by legal scholars and federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court; the property clause of the United States Constitution grants plenary authority to Congress to manage federal property, including land.


title: Bundy standoff

text: The land to which Cliven Bundy claims ancestral rights was originally inhabited by the Moapa Paiute people. In 1848, as part of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the United States purchased from Mexico land that is now the southwestern region of the United States. Since then, the government has continuously owned land in what is now Nevada, including the Bunkerville Allotment. The Nevada Territory was partitioned in 1861 from the Utah Territory, and became a state in 1864. The original settlers in the 1840s and 1850s were Mormons from Utah and southern small-time farmers and ranchers from Louisiana, Arkansas, and Mississippi. After the end of the American Civil War, much of the land was settled by rural farmers, squatters and small-time cattle ranchers from Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Missouri and Kansas, escaping from the post–Civil War Reconstruction and the associated violence and displacement. Since 1934 federal rangelands in Nevada have been managed principally by either the Bureau of Land Management or its predecessor, the United States Grazing Service, or the United States Forest Service. , 47.8 million acres (more than two-thirds of Nevada's 70.3 million acres) were managed by the BLM. Throughout the nation, the BLM manages nearly 18,000 grazing permits and leases, of which about 700 are in Nevada. The season of use and the details of forage are stipulated in permits and leases; thus federal control can be exerted on the land used for grazing.


title: Bundy standoff

text: Under BLM permits first issued in 1954, Bundy grazed his cattle legally and paid his grazing fees on the Bunkerville Allotment until 1993. In 1989, the federal government declared the desert tortoise an endangered species and began negotiating a habitat conservation plan in Clark County, Nevada, to meet the needs of both the tortoise and the people, such as Bundy, who were using the land. In mid-1991, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service approved a short-term conservation plan that allowed for development of about 22,000 acres of tortoise habitat in and around Las Vegas in exchange for strict conservation measures on 400,000 acres of federal BLM land south of the city. This included the elimination of livestock grazing and strict limits on off-road vehicle use in the protected tortoise habitat. In 1993, a permanent conservation plan was put into place that more than doubled the conservation area, and included the Bunkerville Allotment.


title: Bundy standoff

text: Unlike many ranchers, Bundy refused to sell his grazing privileges back to the federal government. Instead, as a protest, Bundy did not pay his renewal fees in 1993. His permit was canceled in 1994. Although the agency made several attempts to have Bundy renew the permit, he declared that he no longer recognized the BLM's authority to regulate grazing, and asserted that he had "vested rights" to graze cattle on the land. Federal courts have consistently ruled against Bundy on grazing rights, ruling him a trespasser with no right to graze on federal land. The courts authorized the BLM to remove Bundy's cattle and to levy damages for his unauthorized use.


title: Bundy standoff

text: Bundy accumulated more than $1 million in unpaid grazing fees and court-ordered fines. The Portland "Oregonian" newspaper reported in May 2014 that the amount that Bundy owed stood in "stark contrast" to the situation in Oregon, where just 45 of the state's roughly 1,100 grazing permit holders collectively owed $18,759 in past-due payments to the BLM, and only two ranchers had unpaid fees more than 60 days past due. Excluding Bundy's unpaid fees, the total of all late grazing fees owed nationwide to the BLM was only $237,000.


title: Bundy standoff

text: Bundy has said that he does not recognize federal police power over land that he believes belongs to the "sovereign state of Nevada." He also denies the jurisdiction of the federal court system over Nevada land and he filed an unsuccessful motion to dismiss the BLM case against him, saying that the federal courts have no jurisdiction because he is a "citizen of Nevada, not the territory of Nevada." and that federally owned land in Nevada actually belongs to the state. According to "The Guardian," Bundy told his supporters that "We definitely don't recognize [the BLM director's] jurisdiction or authority, his arresting power or policing power in any way," and in interviews he used the language of the sovereign citizen movement, thereby gaining the support of members of the Oath Keepers, the White Mountain Militia and the Praetorian Guard militias. The FBI considers sovereign citizen extremism a domestic terrorism threat.


title: Bundy standoff

text: J. J. MacNab, who writes for "Forbes" about anti-government extremism, described Bundy's views as inspired by the sovereign citizen movement, whose adherents believe that the county sheriff is the most powerful law-enforcement officer in the country, with authority superior to that of any federal agent, local law-enforcement agency or any other elected official. On April 12, 2014, Bundy "ordered" Clark County Sheriff Doug Gillespie to confront the federal agents, disarm them and deliver their arms to Bundy within an hour of his demand, and later expressed disappointment that Gillespie did not comply.


title: Bundy standoff

text: The Southern Poverty Law Center has described Bundy's views as closely aligned with those of the Posse Comitatus organization, and says that such views focus on secession, nullification, state sovereignty and the principles of the Tenther movement.


title: Bundy standoff

text: Bundy was at first praised by some Republican politicians and conservative personalities. On April 19, 2014, Bundy said that "the negroes" "were basically on government subsidy, so now what do they do?" Bundy said. "They abort their young children, they put their young men in jail, because they never learned how to pick cotton. And I've often wondered, are they better off as slaves, picking cotton and having a family life and doing things, or are they better off under government subsidy? They didn't get no more freedom. They got less freedom." After his comments, Bundy was repudiated by some conservative politicians and talk-show hosts who had previously supported him. Many condemned his remarks as racist.


title: Bundy standoff

text: In May 2014, Bundy changed his political affiliation from the Republican party to the Independent American Party.


title: Bundy standoff

text: Alan O'Neill, superintendent of the Lake Mead National Recreation Area from 1987 through 2000, is a retired National Park Service official whose tenure at Lake Mead included the early years of the Bundy dispute. He wrote that he was "told to back off at one point because of concern for violence." In 1996, the National Park Service made plans to remove cattle that were illegally trespassing in Lake Mead NRA. O'Neill recalls veiled threats similar to those made against government workers during the 2014 round-up. Against this background, he says, "the U.S. attorney's office told us to back off," and the operation was canceled.


title: Bundy standoff

text: The Taylor Grazing Act of 1934 (TGA) regulates grazing on public lands (excluding Alaska) to improve rangeland conditions. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) manages about 167 million acres (676,000 km) of publicly owned rangeland in the United States, with the United States Forest Service managing approximately 95 million acres (380,000 km) more. Permittees on federal rangelands are required to pay a fee, and the permit cannot exceed ten years but is renewable.


title: Bundy standoff

text: The case of "United States v. Bundy" played out over many years in the United States District Court for the District of Nevada. It involved court orders, injunctions, and notices. Bundy argued "pro se" (without a lawyer) that the land belongs to the state. The Bureau of Land Management was represented by the U.S. Attorney's Office for Nevada and the United States Department of Justice. District Judge Larry R. Hicks ruled that the land on which Bundy was grazing his cattle was indeed owned by the federal government, that Bundy had not been paying to use it as he should have been, that Bundy was trespassing, and that the government had the right to enforce the injunctions against trespass. Hicks found that Bundy had repeatedly violated court orders.


title: Bundy standoff

text: "United States v. Bundy" "arose out of Bundy's unauthorized grazing of his livestock on property owned by the United States and administered by the Department of the Interior through the BLM and the National Park Service." On November 3, 1998, United States District Judge Johnnie B. Rawlinson "permanently enjoined (Bundy) from grazing his livestock within the Bunkerville Allotment ("The Allotment"), and shall remove his livestock from this allotment on or before November 30, 1998 ... (and) ordered that Plaintiff shall be entitled to trespass damages from Bundy in the amount of $200.00 per day per head for any livestock belonging to Bundy remaining on the Bunkerville Allotment after November 30, 1998." Rawlinson wrote that "[t]he government has shown commendable restraint in allowing this trespass to continue for so long without impounding Bundy's livestock." This sentence was restated on October 8, 2013, by District Judge Larry R. Hicks. On September 17, 1999, after Bundy failed to comply with the court's earlier order(s), the court issued another order directing Bundy to comply with the 1998 permanent injunction and modifying the trespass damages owed.


title: Bundy standoff

text: Bundy's cattle expanded into additional public land over the years. A planned April 2012 roundup of his cattle was called off when Bundy made violent threats against the Bureau of Land Management. The bureau's requests for assistance from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department were met by a demand of Sheriff Doug Gillespie that the bureau seek a new warrant because, he said, the original 1998 order had become "stale."


title: Bundy standoff

text: Because of Gillespie's demand, in May 2012 the government filed a second "United States v. Bundy" case, seeking renewed enforcement authority for the original court orders along with relief for Bundy's trespassing on a new set of additional lands not covered by the original 1998 ruling: "including public lands within the Gold Butte area that are administered by the BLM, and National Park System land within the Overton Arm and Gold Butte areas of the Lake Mead National Recreation Area." On December 21, 2012, the United States moved for summary judgment in this new case, and this motion was granted in an order signed by Senior District Judge Lloyd D. George on July 9, 2013. The ruling permanently enjoined Bundy and his cattle from trespassing on the New Trespass Lands. Another order was issued by Judge Larry R. Hicks on October 8, 2013, which stemmed from the earlier 1998 civil action against Bundy. The order allows the United States to "protect the ... Bunkerville Allotment against ... trespass" by Bundy and "to seize and remove to impound" any of his cattle that remain in those areas.


title: Bundy standoff

text: The Cliven Bundy family owns a 160-acre farm southwest of Bunkerville, which serves as headquarters and base property for the family's ranching operation on nearby public lands. The farm property was purchased by the Bundy family in 1948, after they moved from Bundyville, Arizona, and Bundy has claimed that he inherited "pre-emptive grazing rights" on public domain land because some of his maternal grandmother's ancestors had kept cattle in the Virgin Valley beginning in 1877. Bundy alternatively argued in legal cases that federal grazing rules infringe on Nevada's rights.


title: Bundy standoff

text: There are no legally recognized inherited grazing rights, preemptive rights, special rights, or grandfathered public-domain land-use rights held by the Bundy family or Bundy's ancestors. Bundy lost his special-rights arguments in the "United States v. Bundy" cases. Bundy had only base property and normal AUM grazing-allotment permits, like the permits of thousands of other ranchers throughout the western United States. The court found that Bundy and his father actually first began grazing their cattle on the Bunkerville Allotment in 1954 and used it for several years. They paid for cattle grazing again from 1973 until 1993, when Bundy paid the last fees for his final grazing application for the period from December 1, 1992, through February 28, 1993. On January 24, 1994, the Bureau of Land Management delivered a "Proposed Decision Order to Remove and Demand for Payment" to Bundy by placing it on the dashboard of Bundy's vehicle while he was in the vehicle. BLM officials allege that Bundy became agitated, descended from his truck and accused the BLM of harassing him. He then returned to his truck, threw the proposed order out of the window and drove away. One of Bundy's sons then picked up the document, tore it to pieces and threw it on the ground. On February 17, 1994, the BLM issued a final decision canceling Bundy's range-grazing permit. Bundy subsequently informed the BLM in several administrative notices that he intended to graze cattle "pursuant to my vested grazing rights." Bundy failed to demonstrate the existence of any such special rights when given an opportunity to do so in court.


title: Bundy standoff

text: Bundy lost in U.S. District Court on all his arguments regarding states' rights and jurisdiction in the "United States v. Bundy" cases. He had argued that the U.S. District Court for Nevada lacked jurisdiction because the U.S. did not own the public lands in question. The court ruled that "the public lands in Nevada are the property of the United States because the United States has held title to those public lands since 1848, when Mexico ceded the land to the United States." Bundy had argued that the Disclaimer Clause of the Nevada Constitution carries no legal force.


title: Bundy standoff

text: Bundy also argued that the United States' exercise of ownership over public-domain lands violated the Equal Footing Doctrine, that Article Four of the United States Constitution (the Property Clause) applied only to federal lands outside the borders of states, that the government had based its authority to sanction him on the Endangered Species Act (as opposed to an action for trespass) and that Nevada's open-range statute excused Bundy's trespass. These arguments were rejected by the court.


title: Bundy standoff

text: Lawmakers in about a half-dozen states have adopted resolutions which assert that states have sovereignty over federal land within states. Legal scholar Rob Natelson, formerly of the University of Montana, has argued that the federal government is required to dispose of public land within states, with few exceptions. However, these claims have been repeatedly rejected by federal courts, citing the Property Clause's clear grant of power to Congress to manage federal property, including land. Citing the 1840 Supreme Court case, "United States v. Gratiot", which ruled that "the power over the public lands is vested in Congress by the Constitution, without limitation," Yale University legal scholar Raph Graybill wrote that "the Constitution grants the United States exclusive legal control over American public lands." University of Utah law professor Robert Keiter argued that legal efforts to demand transfer of federal public lands were not only futile as a matter of law, but counterproductive as well—by declaring federal agencies to be the enemy, "the Transfer Movement does more harm than good to the federal-state relationship needed for effective public land management."


title: Bundy standoff

text: In the "Fort Leavenworth Railroad Co. v. Lowe" Supreme Court decision (1885), Justice Stephen J. Field wrote that the authority of the federal government over territories is "necessarily paramount", but that once a territory is organized as a state and admitted to the union on equal footing with other states, the state government assumes concurrent jurisdiction over federal lands, and the federal government then has the rights of an "individual proprietor" over lands it owns, unless there has been a formal cession of jurisdiction over a given area by the state under the Enclave Clause. The power of proprietary rights are those of a property owner, and in "Utah Power & Light Co. v. United States", a unanimous Supreme Court ruled in 1917 that as regards federal public lands, "the power of Congress is exclusive, and that only through its exercise in some form can rights in lands belonging to the United States be acquired." This was further reinforced in 1920 when the Court ruled in "Cameron v. United States" that the president's use of the Antiquities Act to set aside national monuments was constitutional and in 1922 in "McKelvey v. United States", where the Court ruled that "It is firmly settled that Congress may prescribe rules respecting the use of the public lands. It may sanction some uses and prohibit others, and may forbid interference with such as are sanctioned" and that "states may prescribe police regulations applicable to public land areas, so long as the regulations are not arbitrary or inconsistent with applicable congressional enactments."


title: Bundy standoff

text: The BLM was tasked with environmental assessment and various enforcement issues regarding the cattle-trespass injunctions. During March and April 2014, it closed some areas of government lands during the planning for roundup of the trespass cattle owned by Bundy. In early April, "just before the roundup got underway, a survey conducted by helicopter counted 908 head of cattle scattered across roughly 1,200 square miles of remote mountains and desert managed by the Bureau of Land Management and the National Park Service." The BLM stated on its website:


title: Bundy standoff

text: A page on the BLM website, since removed, listed the impacts of Bundy's trespass cattle. Among these were risks to people driving on roadways, destruction of crops on private property, damage to community property in the city of Mesquite, negative impacts on city facilities in Bunkerville, destruction of archaeological artifacts and unauthorized reservoir construction. The regional off-site mitigation strategies of non-governmental organizations were also delayed for the Dry Lake Solar Energy Zone, and a matching $400,000 grant from the Walton Family Foundation to restore habitat for the southwest willow flycatcher along the Virgin River was delayed on the condition that Bundy remove the trespass cattle.


title: Bundy standoff

text: A closure of the public lands known as Gold Butte, Mormon Mesa, and Bunkerville Flats Areas was approved by the Department of the Interior on March 24, 2014, and was to be effective March 27 to May 12, 2014. Additionally, the "Federal Register" stated that:


title: Bundy standoff

text: "This temporary closure is necessary to limit public access, use, and occupancy during an impoundment of illegally grazing cattle to ensure the safety and welfare of the public, contractors, and government employees."


title: Bundy standoff

text: The project area consisted of 802,571 acres, primarily composed of the Bunkerville Allotment (145,604 acres) and the New Trespass Lands (451,775 acres). Portions of the project area are managed under the Bureau of Land Management, the Bureau of Reclamation, and the National Park Service. Not all of the public areas would be closed at the same time if operations were moved to another location.


title: Bundy standoff

text: No 30-day comment period or public scoping was conducted due to the confidential nature of law enforcement actions.


title: Bundy standoff

text: Before the round-up, the Bureau of Land Management contacted state and local authorities. The bureau advised Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval and Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto of the agency's proposed actions. Clark County sheriff Doug Gillespie relayed information from the BLM and helped negotiate an end to the standoff. In 2012 and again during the 2014 roundup, the BLM had reportedly offered to buy Bundy's cattle and give him proceeds from their eventual sale. According to Cliven Bundy's son, Ammon Bundy, Gillespie also delivered an offer for the bureau to leave the area and keep the cattle.


title: Bundy standoff

text: The Bureau of Land Management designated two First Amendment zones "for members of the public to express their First Amendment rights: Interstate 15 and Exit 112 for Riverside and State Route 170 and White Rock Road" with just one of the two First Amendment zones open at any one time at the daily discretion of the "Incident Command staff". A third area, Interstate 15 and Toquap Wash (between mile marker 114 and 115), was designated as a media area and "BLM/NPS credentialed media" could request tours by appointment inside the enclosure area to obtain b-roll video, no live feed and satellite trucks allowed.


title: Bundy standoff

text: Government contractors using horses and a small helicopter succeeded in penning almost 400 trespass cattle from April 5 to 9, 2014. "According to state brand inspectors, almost 90 percent of the cattle rounded up by midweek bore Bundy's brand. Of the remaining animals, five belonged to a neighboring rancher, four were marked with brands that couldn't be read, and the rest were "slicks", a ranching term for unmarked livestock." Six animals died, four were euthanized. One, a bull "posed a significant threat," while another ran into a fence, injuring its spine. The circumstances for the other two were not explained. A state brand inspector said the bull "might have got frightened, but that's no reason to shoot a bull." Another said that bulls sometimes charge at people, adding that it takes "a pretty good-size weapon" to kill Bundy's breed of bull.


title: Bundy standoff

text: After the roundup was suspended because of safety concerns, BLM spokesman Craig Leff said the agency would try to resolve the matter "administratively and judicially." Leff said: "The door isn't closed. We'll figure out how to move forward with this." He added: "The BLM and National Park Service did not cut any deal and negotiate anything."


title: Bundy standoff

text: In late March, Bundy sent letters entitled "Range War Emergency Notice and Demand for Protection" to county, state, and federal officials. In media interviews, Bundy used the language of the sovereign citizen movement as a rallying call, beckoning support from members of the Oath Keepers, the White Mountain Militia, and the Praetorian Guard.


title: Bundy standoff

text: At a March 27 meeting of the Bunkerville Town Advisory Board, Cliven Bundy's son, Ryan Bundy, spoke on state sovereignty and land-ownership matters: "This is an issue of state sovereignty ... These large tracts of land that Bureau of Land Management, Forest Service, monuments, parks and, you know, National Parks, et cetera, et cetera, there is no constitutionality to them at all." He also described his family's position:


title: Bundy standoff

text: In early April, armed people and private militia members from across the United States joined peaceful protesters against the trespass-cattle roundup in what has become known as the Battle of Bunkerville (evoking an association with the Battle of Bunker Hill). BLM enforcement agents were dispatched in response to what were seen as threatening statements by Bundy, such as calling the events a "range war."


title: Bundy standoff

text: With many roads closed to ensure safety during the cattle removal, controversial designated First Amendment zones where protesters could safely congregate or exercise their First Amendment right to peaceably assemble were marked with signs and orange plastic fences adjacent to the road. On April 8, 2014, Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval issued a statement calling for the removal of the First Amendment restrictions he described as offensive. After stating that peaceful protests had crossed into illegal activity, the federal agencies allowed protesters to go anywhere on the public land as long as they were peaceful.


title: Bundy standoff

text: On April 10, protesters blocked a BLM truck and demanded to know why a backhoe and dump truck were being used in the operation. The BLM's director in Nevada later said that the equipment was being used for field restoration. According to a statement from the BLM, the blocked truck "was struck by a protester on an ATV". Officers protecting the truck driver had Tasers and police dogs. The protesters angrily confronted the rangers. According to CNN, "Federal officials say a police dog was kicked and officers were assaulted. Bundy family members say they were thrown to the ground or jolted with a Taser."


title: Bundy standoff

text: On the morning of April 12, an armed crowd rallied under a banner that read "Liberty Freedom For God We Stand." Most had signs, many of which chided "government thugs." Addressing the protesters, Bundy said, "We definitely don't recognize [the BLM director's] jurisdiction or authority, his arresting power or policing power in any way" and "We're about ready to take the country over with force!" After the BLM announced a suspension of the roundup, Bundy suggested blocking a highway. Armed protesters blocked a portion of Interstate 15 for more than two hours, causing traffic backups for three miles in both directions. Protesters also converged at the mouth of Gold Butte, the preserve where the cattle were corralled, and a tense, hour-long standoff ensued. BLM rangers warned over loudspeakers that they were prepared to use tear gas. Former Arizona Sheriff Richard Mack, who was with the protesters, said that they were "strategizing to put all the women up at the front. If they are going to start shooting, it's going to be women that are going to be televised all across the world getting shot by these rogue federal officers." Protesters with rifles took positions on a highway overpass, offering cover as horse-mounted wranglers led protesters to face off against BLM rangers and snipers. Utah Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox, who officially traveled to the Bundy standoff to convey that Utah did not want the cattle, put the number of federal agents present at over 200. According to Las Vegas assistant sheriff Joe Lombardo, there were 24 BLM rangers and Las Vegas deputy sheriffs present at the standoff. Las Vegas police were not allowed to wear protective gear because of fear that it would be seen as a provocation. Clark County Sheriff Gillespie blames the escalation of the situation on the BLM, stating to the "Las Vegas Review-Journal" that the BLM has lied to him about having a place to take the cattle and the BLM did not attend town-hall meetings and disregarded his advice as County Sheriff.


title: Bundy standoff

text: The "Las Vegas Review-Journal" reported that tensions reached a "critical level" during the standoff, "with rifles pointing toward each side." Las Vegas station KLAS-TV also reported that guns were pointed at officers. Assistant Sheriff Lombardo recounted that "they were in my face yelling profanities and pointing weapons," and said, "We were outgunned, outmanned, and there would not have been a good result from it."


title: Bundy standoff

text: A photojournalist for Reuters wrote that armed supporters had "taken up tactical positions on government officers," and that one man pointing a rifle in the direction of BLM employees said, "I've got a clear shot at four of them." Another man said, "I'm ready to pull the trigger if fired upon."


title: Bundy standoff

text: Las Vegas Metro Deputy Chief Tom Roberts defused the situation by announcing that Bundy's cattle would be returned within 30 minutes. The BLM announced that it would suspend the mass roundup, citing safety reasons. Clark County Sheriff Gillespie mediated the agreement between the Bundy family and the BLM, saying, "[W]hen a group of protesters threaten civil unrest or violence in this county -- it is my job to step in and ensure the safety of citizens." BLM Director Neil Kornze said that "Based on information about conditions on the ground, and in consultation with law enforcement, we have made a decision to conclude the cattle gather because of our serious concern about the safety of employees and members of the public."


title: Bundy standoff

text: BLM spokesman Craig Leff stated on April 14 in an email that "The gather is over" but that the agency planned to seek a solution "administratively and judicially" and intended to pursue court action to collect more than $1 million in back grazing fees owed by Bundy.


title: Bundy standoff

text: Las Vegas police stated that business owners in Mesquite had received threats because of the conflict. Militiamen were reportedly seen carrying rifles, keeping a round-the-clock security detail on Bundy, and setting up checkpoints.


title: Bundy standoff

text: After the BLM announced that it would release the gathered cattle, Bundy demanded that the county sheriff disarm the National Park Service "at Lake Mead and Red Rock park and all other parks where the federal government claims they have jurisdiction over." He requested that the arms be delivered within one hour. Bundy further demanded that county bulldozers or loaders be used to "tear down that entrance places where they ticket us and where they injure us and make us citizens pay their fees." The demands, which he described as a "mandate from we the people", were not met.


title: Bundy standoff

text: Bundy made similar statements two days later when he appeared on Glenn Beck's radio show and the Fox News program "Hannity". He reiterated the demands on Sean Hannity's program: "The demand on the sheriff was de-arm the Park Service rangers, and de-arm Red Rock rangers — that's two parks very close to the Lake Mead area. And then the demand was, tear down the toll booth shacks." After expressing disappointment that the demands had not been met, he requested to "every county sheriff across the United States" that they "disarm the federal bureaucrats."


title: Bundy standoff

text: Bundy is reported to have described these demands as "a revelation that I received." According to "Esquire," Bundy told a crowd, "The good Lord said, 'Bundy, it's not your job, it's their job.'...This morning, I said a prayer, and this is what I received. I heard a voice say, 'Sheriff Gillespie, your work is not done. Every sheriff across the United States, take the guns away from the United States bureaucrats."


title: Bundy standoff

text: After the roundup was suspended, Cliven Bundy received several certified letters from the BLM that he refused to open. A BLM spokesperson said that the letters included notices that "provide Mr. Bundy the opportunity to buy back the gathered cattle." The spokesperson did not explain why the agency had sent Bundy notices regarding cattle that had been released to him.


title: Bundy standoff

text: Bundy alleged that the federal government wants to kill him for challenging its authority. During a press conference, he made controversial racial statements that were widely repudiated.


title: Bundy standoff

text: On May 2, 2014, Bundy and his family filed a complaint with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department alleging crimes committed by federal agents, including illegally blocking roads, harassing photographers, using attack dogs, pointing weapons and threatening people.


title: Bundy standoff

text: During a June 3, 2014, radio program Cliven Bundy spoke with a small group of candidates for Clark County sheriff. He did not endorse any candidate, but he said that he did not want a peacemaker in that position. "You gonna be a peacemaker," said Bundy, "you're gonna be on the BLM's side."


title: Bundy standoff

text: At a "Patriot Party" after the standoff, supporters were treated to music from Ron Keel, a singer who worked with Black Sabbath for a short while in 1984.


title: Bundy standoff

text: In late April, Nevada Congressman Steven Horsford contacted Clark County sheriff Doug Gillespie regarding complaints from community members. The reported complaints alleged that Bundy militia supporters had established a persistent presence along roads, that they had set up checkpoints for citizens to prove residence, and that they had established an armed presence around churches, a school, and other community locations. One local resident said that neighbors on their way to an Easter Sunday church service were greeted by armed militia members, causing some of them not to enter "for fear and disgust of having their church basically held captive." According to the Associated Press, Cliven Bundy acknowledged "creating a stir", saying that there may have been weapons in the parking lot, but there were none in the church.


title: Bundy standoff

text: Las Vegas station KLAS-TV reported that armed protesters had blocked a county road and attempted to prevent a news crew from passing. The station also reported that "some poured lighter fluid around our news vehicle while others got physical." Bundy says that armed guards screen visitors at his ranch, but says that militia have not set up checkpoints on public property.


title: Bundy standoff

text: Mike Vanderboegh, a militia leader who remained in Nevada after the standoff, accused Senator Harry Reid of provoking a "civil war" and said not to "poke the wolverine with a sharp stick, Harry, unless you want your balls ripped off." Vanderboegh is the author of a novel that allegedly inspired a domestic terror plot and the leader of the Three Percenters Group, which the Anti-Defamation League characterizes as "part of an anti-government extremist movement."


title: Bundy standoff

text: Media outlets reported on conflict between different factions of Bundy supporters. A "wild, paranoid rumor" that Attorney General Eric Holder was preparing a drone strike against them caused Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes to remove his men from the supposed "kill zone." In a recorded video, other Bundy supporters talked openly of shooting Rhodes for what they viewed as "desertion" and "cowardice." Rhodes later described one situation as "this close from being a gunfight." He recounted another situation in which he said a man drew a gun on a member of another militia.


title: Bundy standoff

text: "Esquire" has described an assortment of fringe beliefs held by individual Bundy supporters who remained at the ranch: That Barack Obama is "a Muslim Kenyan", that the BLM works for the United Nations, that people born in or after 1980 may be implanted with microchips, and that bar-certified lawyers have sworn allegiance to Britain and regularly have sex with clients.


title: Bundy standoff

text: Militia members have attempted to crowdfund their continued stay at the Bundy ranch. The site GoFundMe took down campaigns by Blaine Cooper and Christopher E. Ferrell. According to Nevada representative Steven Horsford, only about 15 armed militia remained as of early June 2014.


title: Bundy standoff

text: On May 8, Clark County sheriff's officials said that they were interviewed by the FBI as part of an investigation into armed Bundy supporters who confronted federal officers during the standoff. The investigation was confirmed by Clark County Sheriff Doug Gillespie, who stated "I've said all along there has to be accountability for what took place on April 12."


title: Bundy standoff

text: Joe Lombardo, who was in charge of police officers at the scene and who was interviewed on May 1, said the FBI agents were primarily interested in who was pointing weapons at federal agents, and that he expected the FBI to be poring over videotapes and photos taken during the standoff in order to identify people making threats.


title: Bundy standoff

text: After Senator Harry Reid criticized Bundy supporters, "Politico" reported that sources said the Senator had been the subject of threats and consequently had increased his security detail. A spokesman for the US Capitol Police, without commenting on the nature of any threats against Harry Reid, said, "We are currently looking into threatening statements made against Sen. Reid as part of an ongoing investigation."


title: Bundy standoff

text: Two people who were briefly at the ranch during the standoff were later involved in a shootout in Las Vegas. Cliven Bundy said that the couple, Jerad and Amanda Miller, had been asked to leave the ranch after a few days because they were "very radical" and did not align themselves with the protest's main issues. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, Jerad and Amanda Miller were two of "perhaps hundreds of thousands" who saw the outcome of the Bundy standoff as "a huge victory against the federal government," which "may have pushed them over the edge." This shooting occurred on June 8, 2014, when Jerad and Amanda Miller killed two Las Vegas police officers and an armed civilian before Amanda Miller took her life. Jerad Miller was fatally wounded and died during a shootout with police. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell reacted to the shootings, saying, "It's very important to bring lawbreakers to justice. ... [Bundy] put our people in grave danger by calling in armed civilians from around the country, and that's not okay." Carol Bundy said, "I have not seen or heard anything from the militia and others who have came to our ranch that would, in any way, make me think they had an intent to kill or harm anyone."


title: Bundy standoff

text: In January 2016, armed men led by Ryan and Ammon Bundy seized control of the headquarters of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge near Burns, Oregon. The occupation ended 40 days later on February 11, when the final occupier willingly went into custody. On February 10, 2016, Cliven Bundy posted to his Facebook page that he was on his way to the refuge, in part saying "Wake up patriots! Wake up militia! It's time!!!!" He was arrested a few hours later at Portland International Airport.