By Josh Gerstein | POLITICO
A federal appeals court judge is challenging his or her colleagues’ decision to appoint a special prosecutor to defend a district court judge’s handling of a pardon President Donald Trump issued last year to former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio on a contempt-of-court charge.
An unidentified member of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals objected to a split appeals court panel’s decision in April to use the special prosecutor mechanism in the review of Phoenix-based U.S. District Court Judge Susan Bolton’s ruling, 9th Circuit Chief Judge Sidney Thomas wrote in an order Friday.
Bolton concluded that Trump’s pardon did not wipe out the guilty verdict in the case, even though the president’s move did spare Arpaio jail time or a fine. Arpaio appealed that decision, seeking to have the guilty verdict vacated. Typically, the Justice Department would argue against the defendant’s appeal in a criminal case, but it declined to do so.
Senior Judge Richard Tallman dissented from the 2-1 April order calling for the appointment of a special prosecutor to argue Bolton had the authority to refuse to vacate the guilty verdict.
