The suit claims a Republican county executive's creation of an armed unit of volunteer residents amounts to an “illegal, taxpayer-funded civilian militia.”

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.

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,

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.

The idea of armed civilian special deputies is not sitting well with a number of Nassau County legislators. The idea of armed civilian special deputies is not sitting well with a number of Nassau County legislators. A mother of two young children is asking for help after her husband was taken into ICE custody in New Jersey on Tuesday.

CBS New New York's Jennifer McLogan says Democrats want to un-arm Republican County Executive Bruce Blakeman's so called "citizen deputies."