The trainwreck that was the Rule of Law in Maricopa County, Arizona caused in large part by Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his sweetie/ally, County Attorney Andrew Thomas may finally be reaching its end. It certainly reached its nadir with the arrests of County Judges and racketeering lawsuits filed last week by Thomas against most of the county officials not named, Joe Arpaio. As you will recall I offered the opinion that Thomas may have erred in invoking the jurisdiction of the federal court; as it turns out the Arizona Supreme Court decided to act, as we say in the law: forthwith.
Chief Justice Rebecca Berch of the Arizona Supreme Court appointed her predecessor, former Chief Justice Ruth McGregor as "special master" for all things Maricopa. In her order granting broad jurisdiction to former Chief Justice McGregor, Chief Justice Berch alluded to a "public safety emergency" in the offing generated by the allegations and counter charges that could result in disqualification of the very people the citizens of Maricopa County elected to administer their county adn criminal justice system. By the way, Maricopa County--this is what you got when you bought into Sheriff Joe Arpaio and the demagoguery of "the toughest sheriff in America."
The reason I obssess about clowns like Sheriff Joe Arpaio, is that he is the poster boy for official thuggery wrapped in the flag of patriotism. He is a petty tyrant who given reign by the citizens of Maricopa County demonstrated that he and unprincipaled lawyers can shut down a democratically-elected govenrment. It's an amazing spectacle, we should not soon disregard the example of Maricopa County if we care about representative democracy.
Good luck Chief Justice McGregor.
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