How are sheriffs undermining elections? Since 2022, the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association (CSPOA) has teamed up with True the Vote, a multi million-dollar “Stop the Steal” group, to position sheriffs as key players in election denial. This episode explores how these sheriffs’ actions have escalated voter intimidation and suppression, with plans to deputize armed citizens and form “posses” to disrupt election processes and intimidate officials. We reveal how this movement...

Sheriffs wield immense power over U.S. county jails, controlling the lives of a third of the nation's incarcerated population in addition to acting as enforcers of immigration law. But what happens when that power goes unchecked? When sheriffs ignore a pandemic’s threat, mismanage facilities, or oversee jails where dozens die from medical neglect? In this episode, investigative journalists Cloee Cooper and Raina Lipsitz dive into the chilling story of upstate New York’s Constitutional Sheriff...

What happens when the Constitutional Sheriffs network finds an ally in the White House? In this episode, we uncover how far-right networks leveraged the power of local sheriffs to collaborate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in a nationwide crackdown on immigrants. In February 2019, ICE launched a series of raids across North Carolina, arresting over 200 undocumented people in retaliation against newly elected Black sheriffs who had pledged non-compliance with ICE. At the center...

Why do far-right activists in the West, from the Bundys to the militias that occupied Oregon's federal land in 2016, harbor such deep resentment toward the federal government? And how did sheriffs become protectors of ranchers in their standoff with federal authorities? In this episode, we examine how key figures within the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association (CSPOA) helped orchestrate the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge occupation. The takeover wasn’t just a 40-day armed...

Why are sheriffs aligning with right-wing insurgents? We take you back to 2012, inside a conference room in Las Vegas, where a new far-right network of sheriffs—the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association (CSPOA)—held its first-ever gathering. Their mission? To combat what they saw as the “socialist” agenda under former President Obama. CSPOA openly fosters alliances between sheriffs and militias. Some of the figures involved, like Stewart Rhodes—founder of the Oath Keepers,...

How are far-right groups shaping the future of law enforcement and racial justice across America? After George Floyd's murder by police ignited global protests, a dark story unfolded in the small town of Minden, Nevada. Through firsthand accounts, this episode traces the chilling reality faced by racial justice protesters in 2020—who were violently run out of town by militias in coordination with their local sheriff. With echoes of the town's long history of vigilantes and law enforcement...

The Insurgence: Sheriffs is coming soon later this month! The Insurgence: Sheriffs is a podcast series that uncovers how a national network of far-right sheriffs is mobilizing to create a White Christian republic, one county at a time. The series features first-hand accounts from people across the country who have come up against the sometimes-fatal consequences from the unchecked power of county sheriffs and their growing alignment with the new Far Right. The Insurgence: Sheriffs is created...