Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Arizona [metro-Phoenix and environs] likes to puff up and promote himself as “America’s Toughest Sheriff”. To support the self-promotion he points to housing short term County inmates in Tent City, making inmates wear pink underwear and feeding them day old bread and bologna.
He’s also notorious for launching unfounded investigations into those who oppose him politically, a trait that is evidence of being thin-skinned and paranoid more than tough. Other antics include orchestrating a failure to get criminal defendants to court or provide courtroom security properly in order to thumb a nose at judges whose rulings he dislikes or funding decisions he disagrees with. Other Sheriff Joe inspired daliances funded by Maricopa County taxpayers include investigating the validity of the President’s birth ciertificate.
While Joe may strike fear in the hearts of local politicos, he doesn’t get as much deference from the federal system. And now U. S. District Court Judge Murray Snow has made a finding that Arpaio’s Maricopa County Sheriff’s Department engages in racial profiling in its immigration enforcement. The case involved traffic stops in particular. It raised questions about who got stopped and extending detention to check for legal status.
There was no jury in the case. Judge Snow’s findings and decision comprise some 180 or so pages detailing the court’s rationale. Expect Arpaio to appeal. His attorney has already used the word, though also saying that the Sheriff’s Department will work with the court to comply with the ruling. The plaintiff’s in the case did not seek any monetary damages, but called upon the court to issue the orders necessary to stop the practices.
Cecillia Wang of the ACLU was plaintiffs’ attorney and assessed the decision from her perspective:
“Singling people out for traffic stops and detentions simply because they’re Latino is illegal and just plain un-American…
Let this be a warning to anyone who hides behind a badge to wage their own private campaign against Latinos or immigrants that there is no exception in the Constitution for violating people’s rights in immigration enforcement.”
More here .
Arpaio remains under federal investigation for other racial profiling allegations. Federal investigations into funding abuses have been dropped without prosecution.
Contributor, aka tidbits. Retired attorney in complex litigation, death penalty defense and constitutional law. Former Nat’l Board Chair: Alzheimer’s Association. Served on multiple political campaigns, including two for U.S. Senator Mark O. Hatfield (R-OR). Contributing author to three legal books and multiple legal publications.