Trump's Pardon of Joe Arpaio 'Is a Presidential Endorsement of Racism,' ACLU Says

[DonViejo]

In the hours before a hurricane, Donald Trump ignited a political firestorm.

SAM STEIN
08.25.17 9:12 PM ET

Donald Trump pardoned notorious former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio on Friday night. It was the first time Trump has used the power afforded to the presidency and, perhaps, the most controversial use of that power in modern history.

The timing of the decision says as much about the tricky politics facing Trump as it does the broader trends that are reshaping American politics. Trump made the move at the most optimal time to bury it: roughly 8 p.m. on a Friday night, as a massive hurricane bore down on the United States. The pardoning of Arpaio, who is known for his vehement, anti-immigrant viewpoints, also comes as the Trump administration is reportedly set to roll back protections for certain undocumented immigrants under the program known as DACA.

The pardon sent shock waves in legal communities for how little apparent preparation was behind it. Arpaio had yet to actually be sentenced. He was infamous for exploding the number of people in his jail by targeting and jailing undocumented immigrants. And his prisons were hell. As NPR reported in 2009, Arpaio “deprived the inmates of basic necessities and reduced the meals to two per day while cutting the cost of each meal to 30 cents… Under such conditions, inmates are always hungry and have suffered drastic physical repercussions; one teenager reported losing 50 pounds since he was incarcerated.”

In July of this year, Arpaio was convicted of criminal contempt for violating a 2011 order that barred him from detaining individuals based on suspicion of their legal status. It was hailed as a massive victory within immigrant advocacy circles, but also among legal observers who felt he had drastically violated federal law. His pardon left those same individuals despondent.

“With his pardon of Arpaio, Trump has chosen lawlessness over justice, division over unity, hurt over healing,” ACLU Deputy Legal Director Cecillia Wang said in a statement. “Once again, the president has acted in support of illegal, failed immigration enforcement practices that target people of color and have been struck down by the courts. His pardon of Arpaio is a presidential endorsement of racism.”

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http://www.thedailybeast.com/trumps-pardon-of-joe-arpaio-is-a-presidential-endorsement-of-racism-aclu-says

[Madam45for2923]

1. Reminder from 2012 about these two: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DIHha6vXgAA-KVT.jpg

Reminder from 2012 about these two:

[Madam45for2923]

2. Yep the endorsement of racism and murder by cop is official now.

[frazzled]

3. It's even more than racism

It's a rejection of the very notion of due process--a right guaranteed by the Constitution. And it's the (over)use of presidential authority to override (and thus weaken) the ability of courts to use the only remedy to abrogations of the Constitution they have: injunctions.

This is a big effen' deal. It's about the president using his powers to override the Constitution itself. It's not pardoning a crime. It's signaling that there will be no repercussions for government authorities to ignore the due process of citizens, a basic right in our Constitution. Yes, the outcome affects racism, but much more than that in the long picture. It's about the power of government officials (from the sheriff to the president) to supersede the Constitution of the United States to assert "I am the law."