You may remember how Pastor Steven Anderson of Faithful Word Baptist Church in Tempe, Ariz., entered the national consciousness in 2009 when his "Why I hate Barack Obama" sermon surfaced.
Now, Anderson is back in the news after being acquitted last week of misdemeanor charges of obstructing a highway and failure to obey instructions of a law enforcement officer.
The Yuma Sun reported Aug. 13 that Anderson was stopped on Interstate 8 on April 14, 2009, when he drove into the Border Patrol checkpoint and was questioned by a Border Patrol agent about his citizenship.
Anderson did not answer and instead replied that he was exercising his constitutional rights and did not want to answer any questions. He kept asking if he was free to leave.
A Border Patrol agent referred Anderson to the secondary inspection area after a canine allegedly alerted to his vehicle. However, Anderson refused to move to secondary and stayed in his vehicle even after multiple requests from both Border Patrol agents and officers with the Department of Public Safety.
"I was exercising my Constitutional rights. I knew they wouldn't find anything and they didn't," Anderson told the Yuma Sun. "It is an unconstitutional checkpoint and I basically refused a warrantless search of my vehicle."
According to the Sun, Anderson's noncooperation ended with him being tased, slammed to the ground and arrested. The case finally went to trial last week.
Anderson's trial was held before Justice of the Peace Pro Tem Yolanda Torok in Yuma Justice Court. The jury, composed entirely of Wellton residents, returned its verdict after about three hours of deliberation.
Anderson said prior to the verdict that if he was found guilty, he felt that it would be another example of the government taking rights away from its citizens.
"If the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution doesn't matter, what is next? Take away the First Amendment?" Anderson said. "Give the government a inch and they will take a mile. As soon as you allow the government to violate and take away your rights it will."
He stressed that he felt checkpoints along Arizona's highways bring Arizona one step closer to becoming a police state.
"It is Nazi Germany. Show us your papers," Anderson said.
Will the right wing now embrace Anderson's argument that we aren't asked to show our papers in America? Don't hold your breath.
Anderson became notorious in August 2009 for this, as detailed by FOX News Phoenix:
Anderson is standing by his controversial sermon, entitled "Why I Hate Barack Obama." Video of the sermon has hit YouTube, and he's taped explaining why he hates the president and praying for his death.
Sunday at church, Anderson told FOX 10, "I hope that God strikes Barack Obama with brain cancer so he can die like Ted Kennedy and I hope it happens today."
Anderson is continuing to encourage his parishioners to pray for the president's death, but says he doesn't condone killing.
"I will not take the law into my own hands. I will not take up any arms. It's a spiritual battle, spiritual warfare."
As a bible-believing Caucasian resident of Arizona, the pastor now stands foursquare for intercessory prayer and the Constitution.
Isn't that special?