the highest lawful authority in a county is the
sheriff
Case: Castaneda v.
USA
Filed: 10th May 1996
Closed: 29th April 1997
Case No:
2:1996cv00099 Wyoming District Court, Casper
Nature of Suit: Civil
Rights
Wyoming Sheriffs Put Federal Officers on
Choke Chains
County sheriffs in
Wyoming are insisting that all federal law enforcement officers and
personnel from federal regulatory agencies must clear all their
activities in a Wyoming county with the Sheriff's Office. Speaking at
a press conference following the recent US District Court decision
(case No 2:96-cv-099-J) Bighorn County Sheriff Dave Mattis stated that
all federal officials are forbidden to enter his county without his
prior approval.
"If a sheriff doesn't
want the Feds in his county he has the constitutional power and right
to keep them out or ask them to leave or retain them in
custody."
The court decision
came about after Mattis & other members of the Wyoming Sheriffs'
Association brought a suit against both the BATF and the IRS in the
Wyoming federal court district seeking restoration of the protections
enshrined in the United States Constitution and the Wyoming
Constitution. The District Court ruled in favor of the sheriffs,
stating that,
"Wyoming is a
sovereign state and the duly elected sheriff of a county is the
highest law enforcement official within a county and has law
enforcement powers exceeding that of any other state or federal
official."
The Wyoming sheriffs
are demanding access to all BATF files to verify that the agency is
not violating provisions of Wyoming law that prohibit the registration
of firearms or the keeping of a registry of firearm owners. The
sheriffs are also demanding that federal agencies immediately cease
the seizure of private property and the impoundment of private bank
accounts without regard to due process in state courts. Sheriff Mattis
stated,
"I am reacting to the
actions of federal employees who have attempted to deprive citizens of
my county of their privacy, their liberty, and their property without
regard to constitutional safeguards. I hope that more sheriffs all
across America will join us in protecting their citizens from the
illegal activities of the IRS, EPA, BATF, FBI, or any other federal
agency that is operating outside the confines of constitutional law.
Employees of the IRS and the EPA are no longer welcome in Bighorn
County unless they intend to operate in conformance to constitutional
law."
This case is evidence
that the Tenth Amendment is not yet dead in the United States. It may
also be interpreted to mean that political subdivisions of a State are
included within the meaning of the amendment, or that the powers
exercised by a sheriff are an extension of those common law powers
which the Tenth Amendment explicitly reserves to the People, if they
are not granted to the federal government and specifically prohibited
to the States.
Case Notes:
Case: Castaneda v.
USA
Filed: 10th May 1996
Closed: 29th April 1997
Case No:
2:1996cv00099 Wyoming District Court, Casper
Nature of Suit: Civil
Rights
High Noon for the New World Order
