{"id":270,"date":"2024-01-31T22:02:35","date_gmt":"2024-01-31T22:02:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/nccivilrightslaw\/?p=270"},"modified":"2024-01-31T22:02:35","modified_gmt":"2024-01-31T22:02:35","slug":"the-constitutional-sheriffs-and-peace-officers-association-its-north-carolina-presence-and-its-impact","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/nccivilrightslaw\/2024\/01\/the-constitutional-sheriffs-and-peace-officers-association-its-north-carolina-presence-and-its-impact\/","title":{"rendered":"The Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association, its North Carolina Presence, and its Impact"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What is the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association (CSPOA)?<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

CSPOA is a \u201claw enforcement organization that operates on the tenet that the sheriff is the highest authority in any country and has the right, even the duty to reject any perceived intrusion by general entities.<\/a>\u201d The group is full of election deniers and COVID-19 conspiracy theorists who have ties to white nationalism and the sovereign citizen movement<\/a>.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

CSPOA was founded by Richard Mack<\/a>, a former sheriff of Graham County, Arizona. He first gained notoriety in the 1990s when he successfully sued to overturn the Brady Law<\/a>, a prominent gun control measure. From there, he gained notoriety and a somewhat celebrity status with the far right and those apart of the anti-government movement.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2009, Richard Mack helped found The Oath Keepers<\/a>, a right-wing anti-government group heavily involved with the militia movement<\/a> who believe that the government has been trying to strip American citizens of their rights. They focus heavily on recruiting members of the military, law enforcement, and first responders. While an active member of the Oath Keepers, Mack published \u201cCounty Sheriff: America\u2019s Last Hope.\u201d<\/a> This pamphlet laid out the thesis that the sheriff has the power to oppose any form of perceived tyranny, which can include laws, and call out to the militia to support these efforts.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2011, Mack decided to start his own group, CSPOA, to focus more specifically on the role of sheriffs. This group is founded upon the thesis of his pamphlet<\/a>: as long as they\u2019re intending to protect American citizens from their enemies, the sheriff can supersede any local, state, or federal authorities. This means that county sheriffs who believe in or are members of CSPOA believe that they can either actively oppose or refuse to enforce any piece of legislation or regulation that they deem unconstitutional. CSPOA actively recruits members of law enforcement, with a special focus on county sheriffs and sheriff\u2019s deputies, in hopes of turning more counties and police enforcement to their cause. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group strongly opposes policies including immigration, background checks for gun buyers, and the federal government controlling land within states for national parks, military bases, and more.<\/a>  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To join CSPOA, a law enforcement officer must sign a pledge<\/a>, as well as pay the membership fee. The pledge focuses mostly on the oath to protect and defend the Constitution. If an order is something they perceive as unconstitutional, then they believe it is the sheriff\u2019s duty not to follow it. For example, the pledge from 2021<\/a> during COVID-19 states that they will not support any order or regulation that violates the rights of people to move about freely, assemble, and wear or not wear any medical device they choose to. Anything that they deem lacks constitutional authority, they will not follow or enforce.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

CSPOA in North Carolina and Beyond:<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In September, CSPOA and Richard Mack went to a speaking event in Cherokee County<\/a>, North Carolina. In total, the event had about 90 attendees with notable appearances by the Yadkin County Sheriff Nick Smitherman, four Cherokee County deputy sheriffs, and three sheriffs from neighboring counties in Tennessee and Georgia<\/a>. The event was hosted by Dustin Smith<\/a>, the sheriff of Cherokee County. Smith spoke and defended the sheriff\u2019s role as \u201cchief law enforcement officer<\/a>.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chuck Edwards<\/a>, U.S. Representative for North Carolina\u2019s 11th<\/sup> District, also demonstrated his support by sending one of his field representatives in his place. The representative told the crowd that Edwards wished he could be there but had official business elsewhere, and he presented Mack with a citation from Edwards commending the work<\/a> he was doing with CSPOA and thanking CSPOA for defending constitutionally protected rights. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is concerning that North Carolina Sheriffs and North Carolina elected officials are beginning to actively show support of CSPOA. The exact number of CSPOA aligned sheriffs is not publicly available, but the estimated membership is about 400<\/a> out of 3,000 sheriffs nationwide. This number likely underestimates the amount of support for the concept of the constitutional sheriff based on a survey done by the Marshall Project<\/a> which showed that nearly half of the sheriffs agreed with the statement that \u201cthe sheriff\u2019s authority supersedes the federal or state government in my county.\u201d Furthermore, almost 70% of sheriff\u2019s said that they were \u201cwilling to \u2018interpose\u2019 on behalf of county residents when [they] believe a state or federal law is unjust.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Impact:<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With groups like CSPOA and beliefs in general among law enforcement that they are above the constitution, there is a certain amount of danger. The law is not meant to be interpreted by local law enforcement officers; rather, the constitutionality of any law is determined by the Supreme Court. If various localities are interpreting laws and regulations differently, then law enforcement is able to do whatever they deem acceptable. This threatens the system of federalism and the uniformity of enforcement of our laws, especially when considering that 50% of sheriffs believe their authority supersedes the federal or state government\u2019s authority in their respective county.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ironically, operating outside of the regulations set by the state and federal government is what actually violates the Constitution. Law enforcement is not supposed to interpret or enforce constitutionality; they are supposed to uphold the law as said by the legislature and interpreted by the courts. If they believe something is unconstitutional, they are supposed to challenge that through the court system or talk to their government representatives.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jameson Kavel<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Class of 2025, Staff Member <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What is the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association (CSPOA)?  CSPOA is a \u201claw enforcement organization that operates on the tenet that the sheriff is the highest authority in any country and has the right, even the duty to reject any perceived intrusion by general entities.\u201d The group is full of election deniers and COVID-19 …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/nccivilrightslaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/nccivilrightslaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/nccivilrightslaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/nccivilrightslaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/nccivilrightslaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=270"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/nccivilrightslaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":271,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/nccivilrightslaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270\/revisions\/271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/nccivilrightslaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/nccivilrightslaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/nccivilrightslaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}