Aug 31, 2017 2 min read

President Trump’s power to pardon is undeniable. But can law enforcement officials, such as former sheriff Joe Arpaio, ignore federal court orders and get away with it?

Though Arpaio obeyed Arizona state law, a suit filed in a federal court in 2008 by the American Civil Liberties Union prohibited specified behavior relating to Arpaio and those officers under his command. To accommodate the federal court decision, Arizona changed the law in 2010, which was blocked by a federal judge later in the year. Then, the U.S. Supreme Court in 2012 upheld the central provision of the Arizona law of 2010.

Did President Obama’s Justice Department relish the prosecution of Arpaio? Yes, without a doubt. Will law-enforcement officers come to believe that they can ignore court orders and get away with it if they have a friend in a governor’s mansion or the White House? Possibly, but the career and retirement risks are high.

Liberal and Democratic critics of Trump’s decision have forgotten that contempt citations by Congress against Attorney General Eric Holder and IRS official Lois Lerner were ignored by the executive branch, and that Chelsea Manning’s treason sentence was commuted by Obama. Let’s also not forget that Arpaio was defeated in the last Arizona election by 13 points.

What is served by putting an octogenarian in prison for a contempt-of-court ruling during a struggle between a state legislature, a federal court, and the U.S. Supreme Court?

Rea Andrew Redd

Amwell