I had never heard the term "Constitutional Sheriff" before I listened to this interview on NPR's Fresh Air
https://www.npr.org/2024/09/10/1198684058/the-unchecked-power-of-sheriffs. Turns out, the term isn't used in the US Constitution. So far as I can tell this group of elected "law enforcement" officers self-define as guardians of the Constitution, possibly on an equal footing with the Supreme Court. It's interesting though that they only regard specific portions of the constitution worth enforcing, mostly those parts enacted before the Civil War. Cynically speaking, this is about as surprising as sunrise. Redneck racists who want the return of plantation rules, how clichéd can you get. Seen this in a dozen movies.
The interviewee discusses Joe Arpaio for a bit, describing the various shenanigans he was later indicted for. I had forgotten that Trump had pardoned him. The funny part is that he wasn't a very competent policeman when it came to solving crime. He was good at sourcing pink underwear to embarrass his prisoners but not at clearing murders. The silliest thing about him was that he forced prisoners to listen to "right-wing" radio. Land of the free.
In these pages in the past, some advocates for the 2nd amendment put worth the argument that citizens need firearms to protect themselves from arbitrary government action. I wonder if they were thinking of these sheriffs.
