When I was working in Portland Oregon, I encountered my first Constitutionalist. These folks believe that if it isn’t written in the original Constitution, it isn’t legal. We impounded this guy’s dog for running at large and he refused to allow us to vaccinate his dog for rabies. He is right, nowhere in the U.S. Constitution mentions dog vaccinations, nor does it mention running at large either. The problem was that County law prohibited me from releasing his dog without a dog license. You got it, dog licenses require a rabies vaccination. This guy wasn’t going to budge. I had to be creative so that I could give this guy back his dog.
I waited out the stray holding time when the dog became my possession. I then vaccinated ‘my’ dog. I called the guy and told him he could return to the shelter and reclaim his dog. There was no reason to stir the guy up, so I didn’t mention the vaccination.
We live in a culture in which everyone is pushing the boundaries of the authority that they will comply with. I have to count my blessings that I never had to deal with a sovereign citizen. Who knows how that would have gone?