As a catastrophic hurricane took aim at the Gulf Coast Friday night, president Donald Trump delivered a double-barreled assault on the nation’s anti-discrimination laws by pardoning controversial Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio and issuing an order banning new transgender recruits from joining the military.
While those decisions were expected, their announcement a few hours apart on a night when much of the nation’s attention was focused on Hurricane Harvey demonstrated Trump’s lack of sensibilities in carrying out his duties as president. Rather than addressing Americans in the path of the most devastating hurricane to hit the U.S. in 12 years, Trump served his own political interests while undermining the federal courts and sending a message condoning discrimination.
Criticism followed swiftly. “Mr. Arpaio was found guilty of criminal contempt for continuing to illegally profile Latinos living in Arizona based on their perceived immigration status in violation of a judge’s order,” Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona said in a statement Friday night. “The president has the authority to make this pardon, but doing so at this time undermines his claim for the respect of the rule of law as Mr. Arpaio has shown no remorse for his actions.”
McCain, a former Navy pilot who now chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, earlier defended the right of transgender people to serve in the military after Trump first announced in July his intention to ban them.
Ivan Espinoza-Madrigal, executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Economic Justice in Boston, stated Friday night, “Pardoning Sheriff Arpaio — a divisive figure known for unconstitutional law enforcement practices — is deeply damaging to the rule of law. It encourages law enforcement officials to engage in racial profiling and discriminatory practices.
“Similarly, President Trump’s discriminatory exclusion of transgender people from military service marks a low moment in our country’s journey towards equality and justice. This exclusion from a federal workplace will open the door to further social and economic injustices for transgender people.”
Trump granted his first pardon after seven months in the White House to spare Arpaio, 85, a possible jail sentence. Arpaio, the top law-enforcement official in the Phoenix metropolitan area for 24 years, was convicted in July of contempt of court, a misdemeanor. He was scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 5 and faced up to six months in jail.
A federal judge in 2011 ordered Arpaio to stop detaining people on the mere suspicion that they were illegal immigrants when they were not charged with any other crime. Prosecutors alleged that Arpaio defied that order by continuing immigration patrols that racially profiled Latinos.
Arpaio, self-described as “America’s toughest sheriff,” has been a polarizing figure in law enforcement. Critics painted him as inhumane for forcing inmates to wear pink underwear and to stay in an outdoor Tent City Jail in 100-degree heat. In June, Arpaio was the headline speaker during a Second Amendment rally in Belchertown that drew between 200 and 300 people.
Trump tweeted Friday night: “I am pleased to inform you that I have just granted a full Pardon to 85 year old American patriot Sheriff Joe Arpaio. He kept Arizona safe!”
After tweeting July 26 that he intended to reverse the policy on transgender troops enacted by the Obama administration last year, Trump waited nearly a month to issue a formal order to the Pentagon banning the military from accepting openly transgender people as new recruits.
However, the fate of current troops who have declared themselves transgender remains unclear. Trump directed military leaders to decide by March 23, 2018, whether transgender people should be allowed to continue serving. Trump’s order also prohibits the military from paying for gender reassignment surgeries and medications after March 23, except when needed to protect the health of someone who already has begun the transition.
On Monday, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit in Maryland against Trump, arguing that “the ban violates the constitutional guarantees of equal protection and substantive due process by singling out transgender individuals for unequal and discriminatory treatment.” A similar lawsuit was filed earlier this month in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
Federal courts should allow this group of Americans to continue serving their country. If that’s the case, we hope that President Trump respects the rule of law, instead of flouting it as he did in pardoning Arpaio.