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Pros And Cons Of Sheriff Joe Arpaio

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When asked what they know about Arizona many folks will tell you something along the lines of how hot it is there, or that it is a desert. Others will relate it to the wall that our president has promised to build, and a few will relate it to Joe Arpaio who calls himself America’s toughest sheriff. Anyone from Arizona knows all too well the controversy that is attached with that name. Recently, President Trump pardoned Sheriff Joe Arpaio and the controversy is once again causing a whirlwind of opinions. Although the presidential pardon is a privilege that comes with being in office, the pardoning of Sheriff Joe Arpaio by President Trump was unethical and an abuse of power. First let us consider who Sheriff Joe is and why he needed to be pardoned. …show more content…

Phillip Rucker and Ellen Nakashima reporters for The Washington Post confirm that Trump had consulted with Attorney General Jeff Sessions about the case against Arpaio. The president was seeking council about if the government was able to discontinue the pursuit of Arpaio’s criminal case. Sessions recommended to Trump that it would not be proper to do so. The president knew he would be able to grant Arpaio clemency, if the case went to court and he was convicted. Trump decided to wait, all the while with the plan of issuing the pardon if necessary. The Arpaio case was essentially dropped at this point. Trump was never going to let Arpaio be in the position to take responsibility for his actions. This is an abuse of power because he chose to use the privilege of the pardon to get his …show more content…

Sidney Rosdeitcher, Senior Policy Advisor at Brennan Center, writes “The Constitution requires the President to take an oath ‘to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution’ and requires him ‘to take care that the laws be faithfully executed’.” When President Trump pardoned Arpaio he broke these oaths. The president did not defend the constitution because it was a civil right that Arpaio was convicted of breaking. Trump also did not allow the laws to be executed because the pardoned was issued for Arpaio before he was even sentenced. Chong quotes Noah Feldman, a Harvard Law School professor who advises that “the only legally binding check on law enforcement is the authority of the judiciary to say what the law is.” This is important because in an event that law enforcement is abusing its power (such as the Arpaio case) there must be a system in place to protect the people. By pardoning Arpaio the president has taken the Justice Department’s power away and broke his oath to see that the laws be faithfully executed. This is an abuse of power because the president broke his oath to issuing this

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