Seeing as how he knows virtually nothing about how the federal government works or the powers of the different branches–executive, judicial, and legislative–it may come as one hell of a surprise when President Trump learns that his pardon of former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio is not as complete as he imagined.
Yes, Trump did indeed issue a full presidential pardon of Arpaio last Friday as Hurricane Harvey was bearing down on Texas, but the federal district judge who oversaw the trail of Arpaio on charges of criminal contempt on which Sheriff Joe was convicted is now refusing to vacate Arpaio’s conviction.
According to Arizona Central, Judge Susan Bolton:
“Bolton on Tuesday stopped short of throwing out the conviction based solely on Arpaio’s request. Instead she ordered Arpaio and the U.S. Department of Justice, which is prosecuting the case, to file briefs on why she should or shouldn’t grant Arpaio’s request.
“Arpaio’s attorneys asked Bolton on Monday to vacate Arpaio’s conviction in light of President Donald Trump’s Friday pardon.
“Bolton has scheduled oral arguments on the matter for Oct. 4, the day before Arpaio was supposed to be sentenced.”
In other words, Arpaio is far from being out of the woods because unlike Trump, a federal judge is allowed to interpret how the executive branch uses its powers and whether or not the president has acted within his rights under the United States Constitution. And should Judge Bolton refuse to vacate Arpaio’s sentence, he could well be headed to jail after all.
Here are some other crimes Arapaio needs to be charged and tried for:
- Torturing inmates at his jail.
- Forcing female inmates to give birth while shackled.
- Refusing to investigate sex crimes against Hispanic children.
- The death of 160 inmates at jails under the control of Arpaio and his deputies.
- Involving himself in immigration matters, which are the sole responsibility of federal law enforcement.
Joe Arpaio is a sadist and a bigoted piece of amphibian shit who should be in federal prison for what remains of his miserable life. Maybe we can even get him a cell next door to Donald Trump’s.
This article was originally published by the same author at LiberalAmerica.org