DOJ to charge Joe Arpaio with criminal contempt

[GrumpyGran]

18 minutes ago, AmazonGrace said:

Paraphrased: 

-If you don't like my jail too bad, don't break the law. The judge was so unfair to me.

-Too bad, you broke the law.

-I didn't break the law, it was a misdemeanor and we're appealing.

-You admitted you broke the law when you accepted the pardon.

-I'm not a lawyer, I don't know

-Here is Supreme Court saying it, I believe they're lawyers there.

-I'm not going to get into that.

-Okay so what do you think of this insanely racist thing Trump said?

-How do you know you said it and if he said it I'm not gonna comment what presidents say.

-If you're going to be a senator it's going to be your job to keep tabs on the president.

-I'm not a senator now.

-You're running. What's your position on this?

-I don't have a position but my position is that everybody says racist stuff and if the president said racist stuff I'm always gonna support him.

Good Lord, he's dumb as a post. He wants to be a Senator but does not understand the law and doesn't think he has to. Another Roy Moore. Pretty sure he doesn't have a snowball's chance in Hell.

[AnywhereButHere]

If there was ever anyone more unapologetically himself than Caligula, it's Arpaio. Man has absolutely no shame over what comes out of his mouth

It seemed Arizonians let a lot of shit go with him because he was "tough on crime", so hopefully they've seen through that shit by now. I'd love to think he didn't have a shot in hell, but given how close of a race it was in Alabama, I'll be holding my breath until I see that flaming snowball.

[Rachel333]

He is so dumb. I think the highlight was:

"If you're going to be a senator it's going to be your job to keep tabs on the president."

"I'm not a senator."

[GrumpyGran]

23 minutes ago, Rachel333 said:

He is so dumb. I think the highlight was:

"If you're going to be a senator it's going to be your job to keep tabs on the president."

"I'm not a senator."

"I don't have to do anything until I do. And then only if I know how. And want to." I can't figure out why he agreed to the interview. Half of what he was asked, he didn't want to talk about. And the other half, he clearly did not understand.

[GrumpyGran]

You all know I'm terrible at the links and I swear to Rufus I'll learn but Joey's birtherin' again. Why do I have an uncontrollable urge to shove a pair of pink panties down his throat?

[GreyhoundFan]

Yes!

 

[Howl]

F**k that guy.  Nobody is more deserving of losing a lawsuit, except maybe Devin Nunes. 

[fraurosena]

6 hours ago, Howl said:

F**k that guy.  Nobody is more deserving of losing a lawsuit, except maybe Devin Nunes. 

And Donald Trump.

[GreyhoundFan]

"Court won't let Trump pardon void guilty verdict against Arpaio"

Spoiler

A federal appeals court has rejected former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio's bid to wipe out a judge's guilty finding that preceded President Donald Trump's pardon of Arpaio in 2017.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Thursday that Arpaio is not entitled to have the guilty verdict on a misdemeanor contempt-of-court charge vacated because it has no legal significance in the wake of Trump's pardon.

"The final judgment entered in this case was a dismissal with prejudice, and the district court’s findings of fact and conclusions of law played no role in that dismissal," Judge Jay Bybee wrote in a 15-page opinion joined by Judges Randy Smith and Daniel Collins.

In July, 2017, a federal judge found the longtime Maricopa County, Ariz. sheriff and immigration hard-liner guilty of contempt for defying another judge's ruling aimed at halting racial and ethnic profiling by Arpaio's department.

The following month, before Arpaio was scheduled to be sentenced, Trump pardoned him. The president cited Arpaio's age at the time, 85, and his long record of "selfless public service." Echoing one of Trump's favorite phrases, Arpaio declared himself the victim of a "witch hunt."

The pardon meant Arpaio would never be sent to jail, but when he asked U.S. District Court Judge Susan Bolton to withdraw the guilty verdict in the case, she declined. The pardon could not rewrite history, she declared.

Arpaio appealed the ruling, arguing that the pardon entitled him to have the guilty verdict formally vacated. The three-judge appeals court panel, all of whom are Republican appointees, turned down that request. But Arpaio's attorneys declared victory anyway because the court opinion emphasized that the guilty finding has no legal consequences.

"The Court gave us exactly what we asked for, which is a finding that the judge’s guilty verdict is legally meaningless," Arpaio lawyer Jack Wilenchik said in a statement. "The judge had found the opposite in her final order; she said that the guilty verdict may, or even should, be considered in future proceedings."

Arpaio's lawyers said the guilty finding could impact some future criminal or civil case, but the appeals court said it would not.

The appeal sparked an internal battle at the 9th Circuit in 2018 after a three-judge panel appointed a special prosecutor to defend the judge's ruling refusing to wipe out the guilty verdict. Justice Department prosecutors had agreed with Arpaio and urged the judge to vacate that finding.

The court's move to appoint a special prosecutor irked some conservative judges, who said it could fuel more demands for court-appointed special counsels. A total of five 9th Circuit judges resisted the move, but a majority of the court declined to disturb the appointment of former prosecutor Christopher Caldwell to argue in the case.

Arpaio took that special-prosecutor issue all the way to the Supreme Court, but the justices declined to take it up.

Bybee and Smith were appointed by President George W. Bush. Collins is a Trump appointee.

Aw, poor guy didn't realize that the pardon confirmed his guilt.

[GreyhoundFan]

Hooray! Hopefully he'll just go back to his cave.