[PUBLISH] In the United States Court of Appeals For the Eleventh Circuit

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No. 20-10545 ____________________

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, versus TIMOTHY JERMAINE PATE,

Defendant-Appellant.

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Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Georgia D.C. Docket No. 1:18-cr-00045-RSB-BWC-1 ____________________ USCA11 Case: 20-10545 Document: 62-1 Date Filed: 10/11/2023 Page: 2 of 74

2 Opinion of the Court 20-10545

Before WILLIAM PRYOR, Chief Judge, WILSON, JORDAN, ROSENBAUM, JILL PRYOR, NEWSOM, BRANCH, GRANT, LUCK, LAGOA, BRASHER, and ABUDU, Circuit Judges. NEWSOM, Circuit Judge, delivered the opinion of the Court, in which WILLIAM PRYOR, Chief Judge, WILSON, JORDAN, ROSENBAUM, JILL PRYOR, LUCK, and ABUDU, Circuit Judges, joined, and in which BRASHER, Circuit Judge, joined in part. ROSENBAUM, Circuit Judge, filed a concurring opinion, in which WILLIAM PRYOR, Chief Judge, and NEWSOM, Circuit Judge, joined. BRASHER, Circuit Judge, filed an opinion concurring in part. GRANT, Circuit Judge, filed a dissenting opinion in which BRANCH and LAGOA, Circuit Judges, joined. LAGOA, Circuit Judge, filed a dissenting opinion, in which BRANCH and GRANT, Circuit Judges, joined.

NEWSOM, Circuit Judge: Timothy Pate, who sometimes goes by the name “Akenaten Ali” and has described himself as an “heir to the kingdom of Mo- rocco,” filed liens against property owned by a slew of people he thought had wronged him—including, as relevant here, a former Commissioner of the IRS and a former Secretary of the Treasury. Pate was thereafter charged with and convicted of violating 18 U.S.C. § 1521, which criminalizes the filing of retaliatory liens against the property of “an individual described in” 18 U.S.C. USCA11 Case: 20-10545 Document: 62-1 Date Filed: 10/11/2023 Page: 3 of 74

20-10545 Opinion of the Court 3

§ 1114, which, in turn, refers to “any officer or employee of the United States.” To resolve Pate’s appeal, we must decide whether a former civil servant counts as an “officer or employee of the United States” within the meaning of § 1114 and, thus, of § 1521. We hold that the answer is no. Accordingly, we vacate Pate’s convictions on four counts and remand for resentencing. I A Timothy Pate didn’t file any federal income-tax returns in 2011. Or in 2012. Or in 2013 or 2014. In 2015, though, he filed a return in which he reported no wages or salary but $4.5 million in taxable interest income—and claimed a refund in the amount of $2.7 million. The IRS warned him that his frivolous return could lead to a $10,000 fine. Apparently undeterred, Pate filed similarly frivolous returns in the ensuing years. He also claimed millions of dollars in refunds on those returns and refused to pay the penalties that he had racked up along the way. Pate’s frustration with the IRS led him to sue then-Commis- sioner John Koskinen in federal district court. In his complaint, Pate