sheriffs are state constitutional officers, such that the deputies they appoint are also deemed to be state officials, rather than employees of the counties in which they serve. Mack, 929 So.2d at 483; Whitten v. Lowe, 677 So.2d 778, 779-80 (Ala.Civ.App.1995); see also Lockridge v. Etowah County Corrin, 460 So.2d 1361, 1363 (Ala.Civ.App.1984) (recognizing that only the sheriff, not the county commission, was authorized to promulgate work rules or grant leaves of absence for deputy sheriffs); Terry v. Cook, 866 F.2d 373, 379 (11th Cir.1989) (“We can find no authority in Alabama law granting the county commission the authority to hire and fire deputy sheriffs.... ”). As a result, a deputy sheriff is not generally subject to a merit system covering county employees, see Whitten, supra (<HOLDING>); see also Hooks v. Hitt, 539 So.2d 157, 159
holding that suit against county sheriff in his official capacity was suit against county holding that the lehigh county sheriff is a county officer rather than a state officer holding that the sheriffs hiring and firing of personnel to provide food service to the county jail is not a time immemorial principal and important duty that characterizes and distinguishes the office of sheriff and as such is not within the sheriffs constitutional powers holding that sheriffs deputies were not employed in the service of marshall county and that the county personnel board therefore had no jurisdiction to review their respective terminations ordered by the sheriff holding that a newly elected county sheriff was responsible under applicable texas law for the decision not to rehire sheriffs deputies who had campaigned for the ousted incumbent