Disgraced sheriff Joe Arpaio is running for Senate in Arizona. He’s a criminal. He’s only able to run right now because instead of serving some form of prison time, he was pardoned by fellow criminal and white supremacist in chief Donald Trump. After U.S. District Court Judge Susan Bolton ruled that Arpaio could not have his case vacated and his criminal record wiped clean, it became very clear that the Department of Justice would not defend the judicial decision against further appeal. The fact that Arpaio’s case is based on “facts” that only exist in the mind of a white supremacist’s delusion seems not to matter to the DOJ. Talking Points Memo explains that on Tuesday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in California announced that they will appoint a private attorney to defend against Arpaio’s appeal. This comes at the request of the non-profit advocacy group Protect Democracy’s request.
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That move propelled the non-profit advocacy group, Protect Democracy, to file a request with California’s 9th Circuit Court to appoint a private attorney to defend the Arizona court’s decision, since the Department of Justice “abandoned its prosecution,” a spokesperson told TPM Tuesday. The request was approved under the Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure Rule 42, the spokesperson said.
The group is also hoping to give the court the opportunity to assess whether Trump’s pardon of Arpaio was constitutional.
“This pardon infringes on the constitutional rights of private litigants and the power of courts to uphold the Constitution, and so is outside the President’s constitutional authority,” Protect Democracy’s legal director Justin Florence told TPM in a statement Tuesday.
The only “winning” done under Trump is by bad people, who are being allowed to get away with doing bad things.