There are about 3,000 sheriffs in 47 states. Dozens are aligned with the “constitutional sheriffs” movement, such as former Milwaukee sheriff David Clarke, who now works at America First Action, a pro-Trump political-action committee. There are even more followers of constitutional policing across law enforcement’s rank and file, The New Yorker reports. One group, the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association (CSPOA), claims about 5,000 members. CSPOA members believe that the sheriff has the final say on a law’s constitutionality in his county.
Every law-enforcement officer has some leeway in choosing which laws to enforce. Under the constitutional policing philosophy, the supremacy clause of the Constitution, which dictates that federal law takes precedence over state law, is irrelevant. So is the Supreme Court. “The [justices] get up every morning and put their clothes on the same way you and I do,” said Liberty County, Fl., Sheriff Nick Finch. “Why do those nine people get to decide what the rest of the country’s going to be like?” To the most dogmatic, there’s only one way to interpret the nation’s founding documents: pro-gun, anti-immigrant, anti-regulation, anti-Washington. Nearly every U.S. county still has an elected sheriff. Almost every sheriff is a white man. In most states, the sheriff’s office is written into the state constitution. Once a sheriff is elected, he can usually be removed only by a governor or by the voters. His average tenure is twenty-four years. “Once you become the sheriff, you’re likely to remain the sheriff until you retire or die,” says Casey LaFrance of Western Illinois University, who studies law enforcement. This gives sheriffs wide latitude to shape how the law is enforced.