Who created the "constitutional sheriff" myth? Hint: It's not in the Constitution

[marmar]

Who created the "constitutional sheriff" myth? Hint: It's not in the Constitution
Author Jessica Pishko on how two Arizona sheriffs created an entire mythology — and a dangerous movement

By Paul Rosenberg
Contributing Writer
Published September 28, 2024 9:22AM (EDT)


(Salon) Four years ago, George Floyd’s murder and the resulting months of demonstrations brought unprecedented scrutiny to the deeply problematic practices of American policing. Yet one key figure — the county sheriff — barely got any attention, while the focus was on large urban police departments. Since then, sheriffs have since become significant figures on the populist right, epitomized in the mythical notion of the "constitutional sheriff," which sails right past the fact that the word “sheriff” appears nowhere in the U.S. Constitution.

....(snip)....

The second of these books, "The Highest Law in the Land: How the Unchecked Power of Sheriffs Threatens Democracy" by journalist and attorney Jessica Pishko, is primarily a book of reportage centered on Pishko's own work and others', with a significant historical look-back. It’s largely focused on how the right's constitutional-sheriff myth has served to intensify threats to democracy in the 21st century, even as sheriffs claim to be veritable beacons of democracy. This book's core strength lies in curating the specific details to reveal deeper, broader connections, and showing more than telling.

....(snip)....

The subtitle of your book suggests that sheriffs pose a threat to democracy, but that's primarily about how their power has been mobilized over the last 30 to 40 years, most notably through the "constitutional sheriff" movement. I'd like to begin by asking you about two key figures in this story, Richard Mack and Mark Lamb, both who they are and who they imagine themselves to be. First there's Mack, who you say "has his own imaginary history," with a made-up tale about Rosa Parks.

In his telling, Rosa Parks gets on the bus and she's very tired. The bus is full and she sits in the whites-only section of the bus, and the bus driver calls the police and says, "You need to move this woman from the bus." In Mack's telling, which is very emotional with a lot of pathos, like he's going to cry, the imaginary sheriff comes and asks Rosa Parks if he can escort her home. He escorts Rosa Parks home and gets her something to eat. Sometimes they stop for a burger. So instead of throwing her off the bus, this imaginary sheriff takes her under his wing, buys her a hamburger, tells her how much he wants to help her and her family, and then escorts her home. .............. The other reason that's a gross warping of Rosa Parks and civil rights history in the United States is that the demand of civil rights protesters was not for less federal government, but indeed more federal government. The ask from civil rights protesters was not that government leave them alone, as Richard Mack would say, leave them alone, but rather that the federal government would enforce federal laws which require desegregation, which require due process and equal rights. So it's this interesting way of twisting the civil rights movement to better suit the constituents of the constitutional sheriffs and the sheriff themselves.

....(snip)....

Mack may have talked about this imaginary connection with Rosa Parks, but you argue that it was the right-wing reaction to the first Black president that gave him real-world support.

...... This thing about the Rosa Parks story is that he uses it as a way to deflect [charges of] racism. One of the people that Mack has defended was Randy Weaver, a central figure in the 1992 Ruby Ridge standoff, whose wife and infant son were killed by federal agents. There's this moment, right after Obama was elected, where Richard Mack is giving an interview and asks the interviewer to talk to Randy Weaver. He says that Randy Weaver is not a racist and like Rosa Parks, he wanted to be left alone. He puts the reporter on the phone with Randy Weaver, who starts yelling about Barack Obama and says, "Well, I certainly am a white supremacist!" Richard Mack quickly takes the phone back, and is like, "No, no, no, Randy Weaver is not a white supremacist." So you can understand how "Randy Weaver is like Rosa Parks" is very appealing to more people, while Randy Weaver the white supremacist is not so appealing. ..................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2024/09/28/created-the-constitutional-sheriff-myth-hint-its-not-in-the-constitution/

[surfered]

1. Our County's Sheriff was a member of the Oath Keepers, until it was publicized, then he back pedaled and...

then he back pedaled, saying he wasn't a current member.

[Grins]

2. Sheriffs are "Constitutional" because they are elected.

They are a power onto themselves, responsible to no one. There are more than 3,000 sheriff's departments.

And removal of an elected official is a BIG deal! It has the same gravity and the equivalent of overturning an election.

In Florida, the only one who can remove a Sheriff is the Governor.
In Massachusetts it is a formal hearing by the state Supreme Court.
And all of that takes time. And politics.

If you want more, find John Oliver's show where he takes on Sheriffs. It's an eye-opener.