Jessica Pishko on Constitutional Sheriffs

Your Fellows project is the forthcoming book, The Highest Law in the Land: How the Unchecked Power of Sheriffs Threatens Democracy. How did you come to this project and, more generally, to focus on sheriffs in your work?

As a lawyer, I had always assumed that the law was made by legislatures and courts. When I began reporting on the criminal legal system, however, I found that the real story of mass incarceration was politics, not law. Sheriffs are the only elected law enforcement officers, with the power (and profit motive) to arrest and jail, so they struck me as an important inflection point in how America funnels such a large number of people into and out of jail and immigration detention.

To report this story, you immersed yourself in the world of sheriffs, including attending events like Constitutional Sheriff training programs. How did you gain access to these spaces, and what was the response from insiders to your presence as a woman and a journalist?

Most of the events were open to the public, which made access fairly easy. It did present other issues. To be fair, as a white woman in my 40s, I did not attract much attention, and I think it is important to acknowledge how our identities impact on-the-ground reporting. One of the interesting aspects of this movement was the increased involvement of women, so I was often amongst many women (albeit not ones with the same purpose). At a certain point in my reporting, however, most of the movement leaders recognized me—this changed the dynamic. (One called me a “stalker,” which is basically the definition of journalist.) Because the movement thrives on attention—positive and negative—I often wrestled with how to act as a journalist without becoming a part of their performance. I would frequently see multiple media outlets swarming speakers for quick pull quotes. I think this is an aspect of reporting on the far-right that needs to be more discussed.

Your book title states that the sheriff’s unchecked power is threatening democracy. What role do you expect them to play in the upcoming Presidential election? Is there anything you are particularly looking out for?

Unfortunately, many of the far-right conspiracy theories are now regular GOP talking points, including the “Great Replacement” theory—the idea that liberals are intentionally attempting to encourage immigration of non-white people to overtake American society. Far-right sheriffs have latched onto this and support both laws that would make it easier for them to arrest and prosecute people for voting as well as vigilante-style groups who use the laws and rhetoric as an excuse to conduct patrols of the U.S.-Mexico border and voting locations. This combination of legal harassment and racial profiling alongside the potential for extrajudicial violence makes this movement a dangerous accelerant come election time.

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