The MSM is all abuzz with headlines blazing: Feds sue Arizona sheriff in civil rights probe.

As Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio gets vilified in the press, take a deep breath and remind yourself that this career lawman held top management positions throughout the world — infiltrating drug organizations on behalf of the government — and capping his 32-year federal career as head of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration for Arizona before being elected to administer the nation‘s third largest sheriff’s office in 1993.

Arpaio didn’t just fall of the turnip truck, as the saying goes. Neither is he easily intimidated.

Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s official statement regarding the federal lawsuit against his office by the U.S. Department of Justice for his alleged refusal to turn over documents is followed by a statement from his Washington, D.C. attorney, Robert Driscoll. Both can be read here.

Michelle Malkin’s conservative blog also carries a piece on the topic written by Doug Powers.

Hat tip: Seeing Red AZ

Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio said Thursday the Justice Department “sandbagged” him with the lawsuit it filed earlier in the day against him.

The Justice Department says it won’t follow through on a threat to sue controversial Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio — at least not for another week.

According to a Justice Department official, things are on hold pending a meeting set for next Tuesday in Washington with Justice Department officials and lawyers for Arpaio, whose office is under investigation by the Justice Department for alleged civil rights violations. Arpaio has become a controversial figure over what some say are overly aggressive tactics to fight illegal immigration in Arizona.

In a letter dated Aug. 3, the head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, Tom Perez, accused Arpaio of failing to cooperate with the department’s investigation, warning that, “Absent [your office's] voluntary cooperation with this investigation within two weeks — by August 17, 2010 — the Department will file a Title VI civil action to compel access to the requested documents, facilities, and personnel.”

Under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, law enforcement programs receiving federal assistance cannot discriminate on the basis of race or national origin, and those in charge of the programs promise to operate in accordance with all requirements.

Meanwhile, a grand jury in Phoenix is looking into separate matters related to Arpaio’s tenure as sheriff.

Read the rest.

After Barack Obama took office his subordinates at the Justice Department wasted little time in launching a legal assault on Sheriff Joe Arpaio, announcing two probes in March 2009.

The grounds for the probes are highly questionable. One of the investigations apparently centers around the complaint that Arpaio’s jails aren’t sufficiently friendly to non-English speaking criminals, almost all of whom are here illegaly. The other investigation is looking into claims of racial profiling by Arpaio in conducting his saturation patrols that have been successful in rounding up illegal immigrants. Of course, the people clamoring for that investigation are members of the open borders crowd.

After a year and half of these “investigations,” it’s clear that Team Obama has crapped out, producing nothing of substance. So our left-wing Maricopa County Board of Supervisors comes to rescue, offering to use their subpoena powers under state law to give the feds materials that they have no right to.

Democrat lawyer Tom Irvine, who’s made a killing off of the boondoggle Court Tower project, and $175,000 a year board attorney Wade Swanson seem to be at the heart of this, writing a letter to the Obama Justice Department saying the Board would use its power to compel the Sheriff to turn over materials that the Justice Department can’t otherwise get.

As taxpayers we’re actually paying these lawyers to team up with Obama and Co. in their continuing attack on Arizona and the fight against illegal immigration. And even worse is their argument for getting involved. They claim that by aiding the Obama Administration in their attacks on Arpaio they will actually SAVE the taxpayers money. That sounds like the famous Vietnam War era quote about having to destroy the village in order to save it.

Incredibly enough, the Board is always complaining that Arpaio abuses his power! What do they call this end around the rule of law?

As unpopular as Barack Obama is in Arizona, with his lawsuit against the state over Senate Bill 1070, it’s hard to see the political wisdom of getting into bed with him. It appears the Sups are blinded to political reality by their hatred of Joe Arpaio.

Hat tip: Sonoran Alliance

HEREFORD, Arizona — Tea party activists supporting Arizona’s illegal immigration law were rallying along a remote stretch of the Arizona-Mexico border about 70 miles west of Nogales in support of the law that a judge put mostly on hold last month.

The United Border Coalition, which is an event organized by United We Stand for Americans and the Tea Party Caucus as well as more than a dozen other groups, held the rally near a stretch of border wall made of 15-foot steel posts set closely together to prevent people from crossing the border.

Demonstrators attached hundreds of U.S. flags with messages about curbing illegal immigration to the posts and chanted, “U-S-A,” after a handful of spectators gathered on the Mexico side of the border.

One of the messages posted on the border wall read, “Mister President … Secure This Border For America.”

Several speaking to the crowd of more than 400 demanded Congress and President Obama devote more resources to increase border security in remote areas like the site of Sunday’s demonstration south of Tucson.

Read the rest.

One of the tragedies of the current misled, uninformed, and otherwise preoccupied American citizenry is the seeming apathy regarding the importance and necessity of electing constitutionalist sheriffs. In many ways, State governors and county sheriffs just might be the most important elected offices in America. It is no hyperbole to say that State governors and county sheriffs form the last line of defense against tyranny and oppression. If our governors and sheriffs do not understand the principles of freedom and federalism, there is virtually zero protection against the abuses of liberty–save the right of the people to personally and individually defend liberty via the principles of God-given Natural Law.

Hence, a freedom-minded sheriff is invaluable to liberty’s defense. And perhaps at no time in America’s history has it been more necessary that we elect freedom-loving sheriffs than it is today, what with the ever-growing propensity of the federal government to trample and usurp State and constitutional protections of freedom.

For example, in an almost totally non-reported incident, an armed conflict between federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) agents and a Nevada Sheriff’s SWAT team was averted only by virtue of the fact that, at the last minute, BLM backed down from the impending confrontation.

Read the rest.

Story …

Pinal County (AZ) Sheriff Paul Babeu is hopping mad at the federal government.

Babeu told CNSNews.com that rather than help law enforcement in Arizona stop the hundreds of thousands of people who come into the United States illegally, the federal government is targeting the state and its law enforcement personnel.

“What’s very troubling is the fact that at a time when we in law enforcement and our state need help from the federal government, instead of sending help they put up billboard-size signs warning our citizens to stay out of the desert in my county because of dangerous drug and human smuggling and weapons and bandits and all these other things and then, behind that, they drag us into court with the ACLU,” Babeu said.

The sheriff was referring to the law suits filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and the U.S. Department of Justice challenging the state’s new immigration law.

“So who has partnered with the ACLU?” Babeu said in a telephone interview with CNSNews.com. “It’s the president and (Attorney General) Eric Holder himself. And that’s simply outrageous.”

Read the rest.

Here’s a lighter story for fans of McDonald and Heller, and perhaps a reminder of just how much gun rights have become mainstream. A week ago, a federal judge in Iowa ordered Osceola County Sheriff Douglas Weber to take an in-depth course on the US Constitution after overturning his decision to deny Paul Dorr a concealed-carry permit. Weber had rejected Dorr’s application because of his political activism:

A federal judge has lambasted an Iowa sheriff for denying a gun permit to an outspoken government watchdog and anti-abortion advocate whom some in the area considered “weird.”

It was wrong for Osceola County Sheriff Douglas Weber to deny Paul Dorr of Ocheyedan a permit to carry a concealed weapon three years ago, according to a court ruling issued Wednesday.

Read the rest.

“It is time for the sworn protectors of Liberty, the County Sheriffs, to walk tall and defend their citizens from all enemies of our Constitution and our Bill of Rights.”

Americans are facing the stark reality that their Constitutional rights are being shredded. Nearly every action taken by the Federal government today violates the Constitution that sheriffs and the military have taken an oath to defend. The Sheriff may truly be the last hope for saving our constitutional Republic and our liberties.

Thomas Jefferson wrote in “The value of Constitutions”, that “there is no honorable law enforcement authority in Anglo-American law so ancient as that of the county sheriff whose role as a peace officer goes back at least to the time of Alfred the Great.”

The Office of the Sheriff has existed for over one thousand years and is the oldest law enforcement position in the United States. The word Sheriff is derived from the “Shire-Reeve” (who was the most powerful English law authority figure). Throughout history, the sheriff was recognized as the chief law enforcement officer in his shire or county, and was responsible for maintaining law and order and being an officer of the peace.

The County Sheriff is elected by, for, and of the People, and is our last line of defense against an oppressive and over-reaching government and tyranny. The Sheriffs are powerful executors of the law, and the Supreme law of the land is the Constitution.

In 1775, Edmund Burke declared, “Bad laws are the worst form of tyranny.” By that definition, we have tyranny today. Thousands of new laws are being shoved down our throats, and most bear little resemblance to the Constitution. Indeed, the very essence of tyranny is defined by the blind enforcement of bad laws. A Sheriff has the power, the authority, and the responsibility to resist tyranny and unconstitutional laws and actions.

Read the rest.