Pardon isnt like most
By Andrew Rudalevige
August 26 at 11:50 AM
... As a procedural matter, the guidelines of the Justice Department’s office of the pardon attorney .. state that petitions for clemency are normally considered only after five years have passed after a conviction. (Further.. "The extent to which a petitioner has accepted responsibility for his or her criminal conduct and made restitution to its victims are important considerations."
... Arpaio was convicted for doing the opposite of his job. As a sworn officer of law enforcement, he violated the law and then ignored court orders designed to bring his policies in line with statutory and constitutional mandates. Two different federal judges found .. the "constitutional violations" committed by Arpaio’s office were "broad in scope, involve its highest ranking command staff, and flow into its management of internal affairs investigations" and that he "willfully violated" directives to correct those violations ...
Here .. it is hard to see how the public interest has been served. Rather than "restore the tranquility of the commonwealth" (as Hamilton thought a pardon might do), Trump’s action seems likely to harden its divisions. Arpaio’s status as .. "America’s second most famous Obama birther" and his long history of abusing his office hardly makes him a symbol of the unity the president has .. claimed to desire ... And pardoning a sheriff for disobeying federal law is .. out of step with the constitutional mandate that the president faithfully execute that law — and with the foundational American concept of "a government of laws and not of men" ...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2017/08/26/why-trumps-pardon-of-joe-arpaio-isnt-like-most-presidential-pardons/?utm_term=.a498c57a4880
