Radicals With Badges: Mark Potok Explains Why Renegade Sheriffs Are a Growing Threat in the U.S.
Right-wing radicals who don’t fully accept the authority of the federal government have a new ally. A small but growing group of law enforcement officials, especially sheriffs, is being won over by radical right-wing propaganda that asserts that local law enforcement has more authority than the federal government to decide what laws are and aren’t constitutional.
I spoke with Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center about this movement and about his and Ryan Lenz’s research into these self-declared “constitutional” sheriffs.
Let’s start with the basics. What is the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association?
The CSPOA is an organization that was formed in 2011 by Richard Mack. Mack is a former Arizona sheriff who was once part of a lawsuit challenging the Brady Bill that was passed under the Clinton administration, and he was actually somewhat successful. He got the courts to agree to not enforce some of the provisions of that bill, and as a result he became a very big hero, a kind of iconic figure, to the militia movement.
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