Homemade Sovereignty · Episode 1 of 7 · 19 min
The Constitutional Sheriff Movement: Why a County Sheriff Claims to Outrank the President
A theory born on the racist far right in 1969 holds that an elected county sheriff outranks the state and the President. Rebranded as the Constitutional Sheriff movement and spread through a national training network, it ran into Article VI and the federal courts. The episode follows the idea from Posse Comitatus to the Bundy and Malheur standoffs.
Who's who
- Henry Beach+3 more episodesPortland retiree who organized the Sheriff's Posse Comitatus in 1969
- William Potter Gale+3 more episodesRetired Army officer and Christian Identity figure; originator of Posse Comitatus idea
- Richard Mack+2 more episodesFormer Arizona sheriff; Printz plaintiff; founded CSPOA in 2011
- Cliven Bundy+2 more episodesNevada rancher at the center of the 2014 Bunkerville standoff
- Ammon Bundy+2 more episodesBundy son involved in the 2016 Malheur refuge occupation
- Ryan Bundy+2 more episodesBundy son involved in the 2016 Malheur refuge occupation
- Robert LaVoy Finicum+1 more episodeMalheur occupation spokesman killed at a traffic stop in January 2016
Where it happens
- Bunkerville, Nevada+2 more episodes2014 armed standoff over a BLM cattle roundup
- Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, Oregon+2 more episodesOccupied in 2016 in Harney County
- Catron County, New Mexico1991 ordinances asserting county control of federal land
- Nye County, Nevada+2 more episodesClaimed public land and bulldozed a Forest Service road in 1994
Timeline
- 1969Beach and Gale launch Posse Comitatus groups claiming the county is the highest authority
- 1996United States v. Nye County rejects county supremacy under the Supremacy Clause
- June 1997Printz v. United States strikes down Brady Act background-check mandate on sheriffs
- 2011Richard Mack founds the CSPOA
- April 2014Armed supporters face down a BLM roundup at Bunkerville
- January 2016Malheur refuge occupation begins; Finicum killed January 26
Still debated
Scholars accept that Printz bars the federal government from conscripting local officials, but reject the leap to a sheriff blocking federal law. The Posse-to-CSPOA lineage is documented, though the modern movement frames its views in purely constitutional terms, and the Malheur acquittals are read very differently by courts and by the movement.
Connected episodes in other series
"A Rifle for a Building Permit": The Posse Comitatus Comes to IdahoPower of the County · Episode 4Also features Henry Beach, William Potter Gale
The Law in Their Heads: Elk City, 1976Free and Open: The 1872 Mining Law · Episode 3
Measuring Trees at GunpointGround Truth: Forest Service Research · Episode 9