How much power does a sheriff have?

Letter to the Editor,

How much power does the sheriff have in his county?

On June 27, 1997, the sheriffs won; in Printz v. U.S. (521 U.S. 898) the U.S. Supreme Court struck Brady down. Associate Justice Antonin Scalia wrote the ruling for the Court, in which he explained our system of government at length. The justly revered system of checks and balances is the key.

Again and again, Justice Scalia pounds the point home (page 921): “This separation of the two spheres is one of the Constitution’s structural protections of liberty: ‘Just as the separation and independence of the coordinate branches of the Federal Government serve to prevent the accumulation of excessive power in any one branch, a healthy balance of power between the States and the Federal Government will reduce the risk of tyranny and abuse from either front.’. . .” Gregory, 501 U.S. at 458.

Madison explains: “The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.” Federalist No. 48, Feb. 1, 1788.

Madison says this: “Besides the advantage of being armed, which the Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation, the existence of subordinate governments, to which the people are attached and by which the militia officers are appointed, forms a barrier against the enterprises of ambition, more insurmountable than any which a simple government of any form can admit of.” Loc. Cit.

Indeed, the sheriff has more power in his county than the president of the United States. In his county, he can overrule the president and kick his people out. Remember, the President has few and limited powers.

Lincoln County has the highest unemployment in the state, around 18 percent, three times higher than the state unemployment, and why is this? Because the federal government has shutdown mining and logging with its Environmental Protection Agency. So where is the sheriff of Lincoln County in all of this, and if he really cared about upholding his oath of office he would be out there kicking the EPA and any federal agency that interferes with the economics of this county and once again open the mines and forest to his people so they can earn a living and revive Lincoln County.

My question in this election year 2014: Where does Sheriff Roby Bowe and those opposing him stand? Do they not know why they are elected and not appointed? Do they not realize the power a sheriff has within his own county? More power than the governor and president.

So how much power is enough to get people back to work? The sheriff is not only to uphold the law, but the Constitution of the United States of America and to protect his people from both foreign and domestic enemies, including the federal government when it violates the rights of the people.

— Ace Staggs

Libby