Long Island lawmakers have sued Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman and a local sheriff for a program sanctioning a taxpayer-funded militia of armed civilians shrouded “in secrecy.” The suit challenges the legality of the “special deputy sheriffs” program announced in March 2024 to public outcry by Blakeman,

Democrats in suburban New York are suing a Republican county executive over his creation of an armed unit of volunteer residents. They say it amounts to an “illegal, taxpayer-funded civilian militia.” Nassau County Democratic lawmakers argue in their complaint filed Wednesday that Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman lacked the legal authority to form a cadre of special sheriff’s deputies last year.

The corps created by Bruce Blakeman, the Nassau County executive, is “an authoritarian power grab in the heart of suburban America,” said a lawyer representing county lawmakers.