The shadow movement of right-wing constitutional sheriffs using their powers to resist gun control and investigate 2020 election

Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Richard Mack, a former Arizona sheriff and militia man who founded the national Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association says the group is non-violent and stands against racism, but nonetheless is fond of claiming, “Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice.” Gretchen Whitmer hits out at Donald Trump as she denounces kidnap plot Since 2011, Mack, who was a founding member and former board member of the Oath Keepers, whose members are currently on trial for their role in the January 6 insurrection, has trained an estimated 800 sheriffs in his belief system, which falls far outside the legal mainstream. Georgetown law professor Christy E Lopez argues groups of constitutional sheriffs like the CSPOA are “subverting not only reform efforts but also core democratic principles.” From left to right are Lander County Sheriff Ron Unger, Eureka County Sheriff Jesse Watts, Elko County Sheriff Aitor Narvaiza and Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association founder Richard Mack in the Elko City Park in Elko, Nev., on June 20, 2020 “Every believer in democracy should find it chilling that the CSPOA counts ‘several hundred’ sheriffs as dues-paying members and hundreds of other sheriffs as supporters,” she wrote in the Washington Post. Joe Arpaio Constitutional sheriffs were vocal supporters of Cliven Bundy’s armed standoff with federal agents in Nevada, the Southern Poverty Law Center found, where the rogue rancher believed county sheriffs “the highest-ranking and really only legitimate law enforcement officer,” the hate monitoring group concluded. According to the Anti-Defamation League, the constitutional sheriffs then picked up this mantel and “borrowed from the anti-government extremist sovereign citizen movement,” claiming “the county sheriff is the ultimate authority in the county, able to halt enforcement of any federal or state law or measure they deem unconstitutional.” This set of beliefs is no longer fringe, argues Jessica Pishko, a reporter writing a book on sheriffs and democracy.