Along with his "Make America Great Again" and "Drain the Swamp", as a candidate, Donald J. Trump also referred to himself as the "law and order president". But given his recent Pardon for former Maricopa, Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio, President Trump has done anything but enforce law and order. In fact, he actually defies it. In a recent article by the President's self-declared enemy, the New York Times, Harvard law professor Noah Feldman is referred to as saying, prior to the President's pardon, that the gesture expresses his contempt for the Constitution.

Ironically enough, what led to Arpaio's conviction was over the former sheriff's contempt for the courts.

President Trump tries to get himself impeached?

The NY Times article is titled: "Why Trump’s Pardon of Arpaio Follows Law, Yet Challenges It", and refers to Feldman's article published on Bloomberg titled: "Arpaio Pardon Would Show Contempt for Constitution". Feldman claims that the pardon could actually be an impeachable offense. The NY Times article, however, argued that the power to pardon is still on the side of the President. However, unlike most presidential pardons, this one is against the contempt of the court which had ruled what Arpaio did was a criminal offense, a ruling that no doubt applies to everyone who is slapped with the conviction.

Arpaio's harassment of Latino community

Arpaio's conviction is based off of his illegal harassment of Latinos in his area. The former -- and clearly racist -- sheriff, took it upon himself to pro-actively search Latino citizens to see if they were undocumented despite orders from a federal court to stop. As reported, the decision to convict him came down to the fact that he knowingly defied the court order in conversations with his own attorney.

Arpaio has been adamant about cracking down on Hispanics, helping to contribute to the anti-immigrant, white nationalist and racist cause that was further empowered by Trump's presidency.

Trump defies the constitution, the courts and America

Feldman makes the argument in his article that the former sheriff was not convicted by a jury but by a federally appointed judge, in this case being Susan Bolton.

In fact, over the years that Arpaio's case was being reviewed by the courts, back in 2011; federal judge G. Murray Snow had already determined that Arpaio had violated civil rights and therefore the Constitution. This eventually lead to the conviction of being in contempt of court as he knowingly and publicly defied orders. It is in this case that by pardoning the former enforcer of white supremacy in Maricopa County, he is defying a judge's lawful order to defy the Constitution.

But this also adds to the "war" that the President has decided to wage on judges and the court system as he has always felt contempt towards them. And given the recent events in Charlottesville where he willingly carried on more political damage over his support for Nazi sympathizers, he was advised to not pardon the sheriff as it would strike up too much controversy. But now that Donald Trump has presidential power, it's quite obvious what the pardon comes down to. It's his defiance to give in to the demands of the majority of Americans.
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