Former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio lost his bid at the Supreme Court on Monday challenging a lower court’s appointment of a special prosecutor in his criminal case.
Arpaio earned a national reputation for harsh conditions in the Arizona prisons he ran for a quarter century, before losing his 2016 reelection bid.
Arpaio was found in criminal contempt of court in 2017 for not following a judge’s orders to stop traffic patrols that targeted illegal immigrants. President Trump then pardoned the former Maricopa County sheriff.
Arpaio, 86, is now attempting to vacate his conviction. At issue in the Supreme Court case was Arpaio’s request that the justices reverse an order from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals replacing the Justice Department with a special prosecutor in his criminal prosecution and appeal. The San Francisco-based court tapped the special prosecutor, Christopher Caldwell, in 2018 to defend a criminal contempt order against Arpaio.
[Related: Arpaio says he still has ear of Trump White House]
But the justices on Monday rejected Arpaio’s request for the high court to block the appointment.
Lawyers for the outspoken sheriff argued the lower court’s appointment was unconstitutional and said the 9th Circuit “has no power to replace the Department of Justice as prosecutors for the United States in a criminal case.” The court, they said, decided to name a special prosecutor because Justice Department attorneys disagreed with an order from a federal district judge refusing to vacate Arpaio’s conviction.
In criticizing the 9th Circuit’s appointment of a special prosecutor in Arpaio’s case, his attorneys argued the lower court’s order “effectively sends the signal that if prosecutors act in the furtherance of justice, and concede error by the court, then they will be replaced.”
The special prosecutor, Arpaio’s attorneys told the Supreme Court, “will be inherently biased in favor of defending the court’s orders — because he knows that if he does not, he will be replaced as well.”
Solicitor General Noel Francisco urged the Supreme Court not to overturn the appointment of Caldwell.
[Also read: Joe Arpaio sues CNN, others for $300 million for calling him a ‘convicted felon’]
