{"product_id":"the-highest-law-in-the-land-how-the-unchecked-power-of-sheriffs-threatens-democracy-hardcover","title":"The Highest Law in the Land: How the Unchecked Power of Sheriffs Threatens Democracy - Hardcover","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eJessica Pishko\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eShortlisted for Columbia Journalism School's J. Anthony Lukas Prize \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eA Publishers Lunch NonFiction Buzz Book Named Most Anticipated by \u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003eA leading authority on sheriffs investigates the impunity with which they police their communities, alongside the troubling role they play in American life, law enforcement, and, increasingly, national politics.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e The figure of the American sheriff has loomed large in popular imagination, though given the outsize jurisdiction sheriffs have over people's lives, the office of sheriffs remains a gravely under-examined institution. Locally elected, largely unaccountable, and difficult to remove, the country's over three thousand sheriffs, mostly white men, wield immense power--making arrests, running county jails, enforcing evictions and immigration laws--with a quarter of all U.S. law enforcement officers reporting to them. In recent years there's been a revival of \"constitutional sheriffs,\" who assert that their authority supersedes that of legislatures, courts, and even the president. They've protested federal mask and vaccine mandates and gun regulations, railed against police reforms, and, ultimately, declared themselves election police, with many endorsing the \"Big Lie\" of a stolen presidential election. They are embraced by far-right militia groups, white nationalists, the Claremont Institute, and former president Donald Trump, who sees them as allies in mass deportation and border policing. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e How did a group of law enforcement officers decide that they were \"above the law?\" What are the stakes for local and national politics, and for America as a multi-racial democracy? \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Blending investigative reporting, historical research, and political analysis, author Jessica Pishko takes us to the roots of why sheriffs have become a flashpoint in the current politics of toxic masculinity, guns, white supremacy, and rural resentment, and uncovers how sheriffs have effectively evaded accountability since the nation's founding. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e A must-read for fans of Michelle Alexander, Gilbert King, Elizabeth Hinton, and Kathleen Belew.\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eJessica Pishko\u003c\/b\u003e is a journalist and lawyer who graduated from Harvard Law School and Columbia University's MFA program. Her writings about criminal justice have been featured in \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times, Rolling Stone, \u003c\/i\u003eThe Appeal, \u003ci\u003e The New Republic, The Nation, Slate, \u003c\/i\u003e and\u003ci\u003e The Guardian\u003c\/i\u003e, among other publications. She has been awarded journalism fellowships from the Pulitzer Center and Type Investigations, and has provided policy guidance for criminal system reform nonprofits. After turning her attention to sheriffs in 2016, she served as a fellow in the Sheriff Accountability Project at the University of South Carolina School of Law, where she examined state laws related to sheriff elections and sheriff removal procedures. Her work was the first to put many of the issues related to sheriffs on the political map. Most recently, she was a 2022 New America Fellow.\u003c\/p\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 480\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1.48 x 9.27 x 6.36 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e September 17, 2024\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53756842541389,"sku":"9780593471319","price":32.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0927\/3304\/7117\/files\/USTnQ_VDV29780593471319.webp?v=1776754564","url":"https:\/\/belfastbooks.us\/products\/the-highest-law-in-the-land-how-the-unchecked-power-of-sheriffs-threatens-democracy-hardcover","provider":"belfastbooks.us","version":"1.0","type":"link"}