House Judiciary Democrats Call for Committee to Investigate Arpaio Pardon

Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee are calling for a hearing in response to President Trump’s pardon of former Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

The letter they sent to committee chair Bob Goodlatte says the pardon not only “sends an unequivocal signal that institutionalized racial profiling as practiced by Sheriff Arpaio is acceptable,” but that the pardon “is disrespectful to the rule of law in general and to the federal courts in particular.”

“We recognize that the Constitution grants the President the sweeping ‘power to grand reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States,'” it continues. “Still, that power can be abused.”

The committee Democrats invoke President Trump’s Charlottesville response and express concern about how the pardon “directly flouts the courts themselves by signaling that it is acceptable for parties to ignore court orders.”

The letter concludes with them calling out Goodlatte for not yet conducting sufficient oversight. Ranking member John Conyers made a point of noting this on Twitter too:

This is the 5th request to @HouseJudiciary Chairman for oversight on @realDonaldTrump‘s admin & still nothing has happened. #Arpaio https://t.co/6AN3HpE232

— John Conyers, Jr. (@RepJohnConyers) August 30, 2017

You can read the full letter here.

[image via screengrab]

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Follow Josh Feldman on Twitter: @feldmaniac

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