Birther posse sheriff and anti-immigrant crusader Joe Arpaio has finally been found guilty of criminal contempt of court.
U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton ruled this morning that the former Maricopa County sheriff is guilty of misdemeanor contempt for ignoring a court order to cease his anti-immigrant patrols that relied on racial profiling.
From the Associated Press:
The lawman who made defiance a hallmark of his tenure was found guilty of misdemeanor contempt-of-court for ignoring the 2011 court order to stop the patrols. The 85-year-old faces up to six months in jail, though attorneys who have followed the case doubt that someone his age would be incarcerated. [...]
Prosecutors say Arpaio violated the order so he could promote his immigration enforcement efforts in an effort to boost his 2012 re-election campaign and even bragged about his continued crackdowns.
Arpaio's conviction was a long time coming and it may not have happened if Arpaio had not so thoroughly implicated himself. You may recall that Arpaio's henchmen tried to dig up dirt on U.S. District Judge G. Murray Snow, the judge that initially ruled in 2013 that Arpaio's office was racially profiling Latinos. Arpaio's conviction today stems from his refusal to cooperate after that ruling.
Those who don't know Arpaio for his anti-immigrant racism may know him for another form of racism; his insistence that President Obama's birth certificate is a fake. Arpaio never abandoned his position that President Obama forged his birth certificate and neither did Arpaio's biggest fan and promoter: Donald Trump.
It remains to be seen if Arpaio will now be forced to wear one of the pink jumpsuits he forced his own prisoners to wear.