However, a lawyer for Arpaio said Wednesday night that the ex-sheriff’s legal team is planning a new entreaty of its own to the high court, despite the Trump administration’s decision not to pursue the issue of judges’ authority to name special counsels without an explicit blessing from Congress.
President Donald Trump pardoned Arpaio as he was awaiting sentencing, a few weeks after the verdict that the longtime immigration hard-liner defied a court order in a suit involving profiling of Latinos.
The pardon appears to have wiped out any chance the 86-year-old will go to prison or face a fine in connection with the contempt charge, but Arpaio’s lawyers have persisted in a demand that the guilty verdict also be formally set aside.
