Trump May Use His Power of the Pardon for Arpaio

As most of you know, Trump recently had a long winded, rage filled speech in Phoenix.  In his speech, he hinted at the idea of pardoning Sheriff Joe Arpaio from his sentence.  For those of you that do not know who Mr. Arpaio is, he was arrested for racial profiling when being convicted of contempt of court after a judge told him to stop racial profiling and he refused to follow the law.  So as some say that he deserved his punishment for not following the law, President Trump has a different view on Mr. Arpaio.  He sees Arpaio as a hero because he claims that he should not be sentenced after serving for the country for 50 years and was "working to keep people safe."  But Vanita Gupta, president of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, would excuse "racist and illegal policing" if the pardon becomes a reality for Mr. Arpaio.

Also, this pardon will definitely cause protests because it is another case involving civil rights injustices and makes Trump look even worse because he feels Arpaio did nothing wrong.  In the country we live in today, anytime people feel something is wrong, they will protest.  So that brings up the question, will the pardon result in more violence through protests or will letting him go really help the stop of illegal immigration and inspire others to do the same?  This case seems to look like a double edged sword because while Trump wants to protect the borders, our country already has major division within.

Another problem with pardoning Arpaio is that he went against what a judge ordered him to do and would end up getting away with it in the end with a pardon from the president.  There is a federal law in place and Arpaio completely ignored it and it is against the law to repeatedly say that you will "continue to keep doing what he had been doing," as the judge found, and then purposely disobey the judge's order.   Now if Trump pardons Arpaio this stirs up whether the law in place is truly in place for others going through a similar case if the president doesn't care that Arpaio did not follow this.  Arpaio easily could have appealed the judge's orders and could have asked him to possibly reconsider, but he purposely did not and that is the federal crime he would serve time for unless of course President Trump does what most do not want him to do, and pardon the sheriff.

For more information on this topic check out these sites

http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/24/politics/why-joe-arpaio-was-found-guilty/index.html

http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/the-administration/347907-pardoning-joe-arpaio-undermines-respect-for-the-law

http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a57201/arpaio-pardon/

Discussion Questions:

Should President Trump pardon Joe Arpaio?

Will a pardon cause further division in our country and more protests?

Do you think Arpaio acted within the law?