# DoJ sues Sheriff Arpaio for civil-rights abuses; anyone care to take Arpaio's side here? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [May 12, 2012, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doj-sues-sheriff-arpaio-for-civil-rights-abuses-anyone-care-to-take-arpaios-side-here/621726 "2012-05-12T20:42:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 12
**Author:** ![Zeriel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/58956e/32.png) [@Zeriel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeriel)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2012, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doj-sues-sheriff-arpaio-for-civil-rights-abuses-anyone-care-to-take-arpaios-side-here/621726/221 "2012-05-18T13:56:49Z")
> [@IntelliQ](#): > > Obama deserves the birthers and their investigations. > > [http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/timstanley/100158834/obama-used-to-be-a-kenyan/](http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/timstanley/100158834/obama-used-to-be-a-kenyan/) > > He deserves Sherrif Joe too. From the linked article: > [@Tim Stanley](#): > > If The Washington Post is going to write about how Mitt Romney once cut the hair of a guy it presumes was gay ( **because, well, his hair needed cutting** ) The bolded statement tells me exactly how little of a shit I need to give about the article writer’s opinion. And for the record, no one deserves that asshole Sheriff Joe. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2012, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doj-sues-sheriff-arpaio-for-civil-rights-abuses-anyone-care-to-take-arpaios-side-here/621726/222 "2012-05-18T15:26:25Z")
[Speaking of ABC…](http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/OTUS/born-kenya-obamas-literary-agent-misidentified-birthplace-1991/story?id=16372566#.T7WvDXlYtR8) > [@ABC News](#): > > Miriam Goderich edited the text of the bio; she is now a partner at the Dystel & Goderich agency, which lists Obama as one of its current clients. > > “This was nothing more than a fact checking error by me–an agency assistant at the time,” Goderich wrote in an emailed statement to Yahoo News. “There was never any information given to us by Obama in any of his correspondence or other communications suggesting in any way that he was born in Kenya and not Hawaii. I hope you can communicate to your readers that this was a simple mistake and nothing more.” But of course she \*would \*say that. And of course [Sheriff Joe has said what he would say](http://www.wnd.com/2012/05/arpaio-reacts-to-latest-obama-kenya-connection/?cat_orig=politics), to the news organ we would most expect to print it. > [@WND](#): > > Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, whose special investigative unit already has found probable cause that Barack Obama’s Hawaii birth certificate is a forgery, says the discovery of a 1991 literary brochure listing Obama’s birthplace as Kenya “puts more smoke out there.” ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2012, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doj-sues-sheriff-arpaio-for-civil-rights-abuses-anyone-care-to-take-arpaios-side-here/621726/223 "2012-05-18T18:48:54Z")
> [@IntelliQ](#): > > Obama deserves the birthers and their investigations. > > [http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/timstanley/100158834/obama-used-to-be-a-kenyan/](http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/timstanley/100158834/obama-used-to-be-a-kenyan/) > > He deserves Sherrif Joe too. [Yeh, about that . . .](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=652230) [This.](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/17/obama-birthers_n_1526222.html?1337309704&icid=maing-grid7%7Cmain5%7Cdl1%7Csec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D162031) ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2012, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doj-sues-sheriff-arpaio-for-civil-rights-abuses-anyone-care-to-take-arpaios-side-here/621726/224 "2012-05-19T02:18:14Z")
The idiocy about the Dystel & Goderich publishing blurb has no point in this thread. Take any references to that silliness to the thread that is currently snorting at it. [/Moderating] ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2012, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doj-sues-sheriff-arpaio-for-civil-rights-abuses-anyone-care-to-take-arpaios-side-here/621726/225 "2012-05-19T05:11:42Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > The idiocy about the Dystel & Goderich publishing blurb has no point in this thread. Take any references to that silliness to the thread that is currently snorting at it. > > [/Moderating] OK, but I think [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=652302) [crap](http://content.usatoday.com/communities/onpolitics/post/2012/05/barack-obama-birth-certificate-arizona-ballot-ken-bennett-/1) is pretty thread-relevant – Arpaio’s involvement is indirect, but real. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2012, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doj-sues-sheriff-arpaio-for-civil-rights-abuses-anyone-care-to-take-arpaios-side-here/621726/226 "2012-05-19T06:06:11Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > OK, but I think [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=652302) [crap](http://content.usatoday.com/communities/onpolitics/post/2012/05/barack-obama-birth-certificate-arizona-ballot-ken-bennett-/1) is pretty thread-relevant – Arpaio’s involvement is indirect, but real. Unless you have a recording of Arpaio saying that he was going to use attacks on Obama to further his violations of the rights of Hispanics in Arizona, you are wrong. This thread was an invitation for posters to attempt to defend Arpaio against the charges of specific violations of the rights of people in Arizona, not simply a grabfest of “_We hate Arpaio_” stories. You are free to open a substantive discussion of Arpaio’s Birther activities in GD or the Pit, but this thread already has a focus and a purpose and Arpaio-as-Birther (or supporter-of-Birthers), is not it. [/Moderating] ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2012, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doj-sues-sheriff-arpaio-for-civil-rights-abuses-anyone-care-to-take-arpaios-side-here/621726/227 "2012-05-19T06:44:23Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > Unless you have a recording of Arpaio saying that he was going to use attacks on Obama to further his violations of the rights of Hispanics in Arizona, you are wrong. > > This thread was an invitation for posters to attempt to defend Arpaio against the charges of specific violations of the rights of people in Arizona, not simply a grabfest of “_We hate Arpaio_” stories. > > You are free to open a substantive discussion of Arpaio’s Birther activities in GD or the Pit, but this thread already has a focus and a purpose and Arpaio-as-Birther (or supporter-of-Birthers), is not it. > > [/Moderating] I understand. Let us not debate the **merits** of Arpaio’s Birtherism here. But, the **fact** of it is relevant, because this thread invites defenses of him, and we’ve already seen [**dngnb8’s** post #206](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=15071139&postcount=206) – the “defense” that this DoJ lawsuit is politically-motivated retaliation for same, and that (it is implied) discredits its substance. (And I daresay there must be a whole lot of RW Arizonans muttering – or screaming – exactly that from the moment they heard of the lawsuit.) I fear that these two completely unrelated issues, unfortunately, cannot be cleanly disentangled – that is the nature of the current political environment in AZ, apparently. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2012, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doj-sues-sheriff-arpaio-for-civil-rights-abuses-anyone-care-to-take-arpaios-side-here/621726/228 "2012-05-21T05:56:25Z")
[Despite the lawsuit, Arpaio remains the front-runner for re-election.](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/16/joe-arpaio-arizona-sheriff_n_1522415.html) > [@](#): > > Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, 79, will vie for reelection in November. The five-term Phoenix-area sheriff appears to remain the frontrunner, unfazed by a sweeping federal lawsuit filed against his office last week. But he faces five opponents and emboldened opposition from political and civil rights groups. > > “He is kind of a 21st century Bull Connor,” said the Rev. Warren Stewart Sr., pastor of First Institutional Baptist Church in Phoenix and chairman of the National Immigration Forum, an advocacy group. > > \ > > “Arpaio doesn’t let dogs out on people," Stewart said. “But he does go after and target people of color. He goes after Latinos and does it often with a vengeance and an arrogance if anyone dares to question him. It’s ‘I’m Sheriff Joe Arpaio and I’m in charge and nobody tells me what to do. I will not back down.’” Of course, Bull Connor, even **after** all the shit he did with the dogs and the firehoses, etc., and even after losing a lawsuit and being forced out of office (that is, Birmingham voters voted to change to a Mayor-Council form of government, ending Connor’s office of Commissioner of Public Safety; he sued to have the election overturned but his suit was thrown out), [was elected to state office in 1964 and re-elected in 1968.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bull_Connor#Later_career) HOMER SIMPSON: D’oh! When are people going to learn?! Democracy doesn’t work! ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2012, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doj-sues-sheriff-arpaio-for-civil-rights-abuses-anyone-care-to-take-arpaios-side-here/621726/229 "2012-05-21T09:59:33Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > The GD is a court of public opinion, not of law. We have our own evidentiary standards. Tits or GTFO ? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2012, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doj-sues-sheriff-arpaio-for-civil-rights-abuses-anyone-care-to-take-arpaios-side-here/621726/230 "2012-05-21T14:37:33Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > Tits or GTFO ? Let us have no more evocations, please, of any image involving Sheriff Arpaio’s tits. ---
**Author:** ![dngnb8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/977dab/32.png) [@dngnb8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dngnb8)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2012, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doj-sues-sheriff-arpaio-for-civil-rights-abuses-anyone-care-to-take-arpaios-side-here/621726/231 "2012-05-21T23:05:20Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Whether you are against the presence of undocumented immigrants who use fake SSNs to work in the U.S.? I inferred that you are against it, certainly; please advise if that’s not true. Im not against migrants being here. I am against identity theft, taxes not paid. However, Im not just against migrants doing that, I am against everyone doing that, not just migrants. ---
**Author:** ![dngnb8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/977dab/32.png) [@dngnb8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dngnb8)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2012, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doj-sues-sheriff-arpaio-for-civil-rights-abuses-anyone-care-to-take-arpaios-side-here/621726/232 "2012-05-21T23:08:57Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > The DoJ has been investigating Arpaio for several years prior to Arpaio’s imvolvement in the Birther CT. If the DoJ has that much foreknowledge, it should probably be able to spot all the coyotes before they get to the border. I realize that. Then Joe retaliated with his pseudopolitical examination of a piece of paper that wasnt paper, but was a Jpeg and gave his astounding conclusion. Now the DoJ has fired back. I wholly expect Joe to fire back with a Fast and Furious comment. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2012, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doj-sues-sheriff-arpaio-for-civil-rights-abuses-anyone-care-to-take-arpaios-side-here/621726/233 "2012-05-21T23:16:49Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > HOMER SIMPSON: D’oh! When are people going to learn?! Democracy doesn’t work! That was Kent Brockman. ---
**Author:** ![dngnb8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/977dab/32.png) [@dngnb8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dngnb8)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2012, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doj-sues-sheriff-arpaio-for-civil-rights-abuses-anyone-care-to-take-arpaios-side-here/621726/234 "2012-05-21T23:17:53Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > [Despite the lawsuit, Arpaio remains the front-runner for re-election.](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/16/joe-arpaio-arizona-sheriff_n_1522415.html) > > Of course, Bull Connor, even **after** all the shit he did with the dogs and the firehoses, etc., and even after losing a lawsuit and being forced out of office (that is, Birmingham voters voted to change to a Mayor-Council form of government, ending Connor’s office of Commissioner of Public Safety; he sued to have the election overturned but his suit was thrown out), [was elected to state office in 1964 and re-elected in 1968.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bull_Connor#Later_career) > > HOMER SIMPSON: D’oh! When are people going to learn?! Democracy doesn’t work! Until you live in South AZ, it is difficult to understand the political environment. The negative information regarding illegals for the ordinary citizen far outweighs Joe’s stepping all over peoples Rights. I dont like it, but that is the case. The people here want the border secure, and will do just about anything to get it done. It is the major campaign issue. the only reason why a moron like Brewer would get re-elected is because of her psuedo-Obama rants about immigration (in front of cameras coincidentally). She rides those little public displays like Slim Pickens rode the nuke. The Arizona border is as secure as the St Louis Rams defense last season. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2012, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doj-sues-sheriff-arpaio-for-civil-rights-abuses-anyone-care-to-take-arpaios-side-here/621726/235 "2012-05-21T23:59:11Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > That was Kent Brockman. I recall Homer saying it when a pro-immigrant referendum (on the ballot for Apu’s sake) failed (this being _The Simpsons,_ the irrelevance of any local referendum or election to a matter of federal law was blithely glossed over; as in Arpaio’s mind, apparently . . .). ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2012, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doj-sues-sheriff-arpaio-for-civil-rights-abuses-anyone-care-to-take-arpaios-side-here/621726/236 "2012-05-27T19:45:41Z")
> [@Stanislaus](#): > > Oh, for crying out loud. > > [From the Home Office](http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/police/operational-policing/pace-codes/pace-code-a-2011?view=Binary): > > So this is the guidelines issued to police in regard to how they carry out stop and search, with reference to their duty to record ethnicity among other things. > > Here are the relevant paragraphs: > > Bolding is mine. > > **Lust4Life** ’s original claim was: > > Para 4.12 above shows that the first part of this is false: police do not have to record everyone they speak to in the street. They do have to record everyone they search. > > Para 5.1 and 5.3 above show that the second part of **Lust4Life** ’s claim is also false: the police have to monitor their stats so that they - and we - can be sure that where people of any ethnicity are being **dis** proportionately subjected to Stop and Search then this has been done with good reason - but there is absolutely no requirement to keep the numbers even across all ethnicities. > > At any rate, L4L can now refer to the appropriate regulations when asking his mate. Or, we could drop this hijack. Good post, but we don’t have a national police force, so there wouldn’t actually be a national requirment . But I’ll shut up now, as you say this was a hijack. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2012, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doj-sues-sheriff-arpaio-for-civil-rights-abuses-anyone-care-to-take-arpaios-side-here/621726/237 "2012-06-06T04:27:53Z")
[Arpaio appears to have suspended his department’s controversial “immigration sweeps”.](http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2012/06/05/20120605arizona-joe-arpaio-immigration-patrols-gap.html) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2012, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doj-sues-sheriff-arpaio-for-civil-rights-abuses-anyone-care-to-take-arpaios-side-here/621726/238 "2012-06-19T16:45:42Z")
Meanwhile, [Sheriff Arpaio’s office arrests a 6-year-old girl on suspicion of being an undocumented immigrant.](http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2012/06/16/20120616mcso-illegal-immigration-arrest-girl.html#ixzz1y4UhjzxR) ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2012, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doj-sues-sheriff-arpaio-for-civil-rights-abuses-anyone-care-to-take-arpaios-side-here/621726/239 "2012-06-19T16:50:16Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Meanwhile, [Sheriff Arpaio’s office arrests a 6-year-old girl on suspicion of being an undocumented immigrant.](http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2012/06/16/20120616mcso-illegal-immigration-arrest-girl.html#ixzz1y4UhjzxR) > [@](#): > > “I suspect that this is politics to get the Hispanic vote,” Arpaio said. “It’s sad to use the kids as a political tool to get a certain segment of our society’s vote.” > > Read more: [http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2012/06/16/20120616mcso-illegal-immigration-arrest-girl.html#ixzz1yG6Ey8B4](http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2012/06/16/20120616mcso-illegal-immigration-arrest-girl.html#ixzz1yG6Ey8B4) That’s how I like my irony! ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2012, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doj-sues-sheriff-arpaio-for-civil-rights-abuses-anyone-care-to-take-arpaios-side-here/621726/240 "2012-06-19T21:22:41Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Meanwhile, [Sheriff Arpaio’s office arrests a 6-year-old girl on suspicion of being an undocumented immigrant.](http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2012/06/16/20120616mcso-illegal-immigration-arrest-girl.html#ixzz1y4UhjzxR) :rolleyes:In the other thread where you posted the exact some post (without any any commentary—again), another poser followed up with this: [QUOTE=Really Not All That Bright] I don’t see how that’s relevant, notwithstanding Arpaio’s grandstanding. What were they supposed to do with her? [/QUOTE] Perhaps you care to answer the question here. Or there. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doj-sues-sheriff-arpaio-for-civil-rights-abuses-anyone-care-to-take-arpaios-side-here/621726.md?page=11) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doj-sues-sheriff-arpaio-for-civil-rights-abuses-anyone-care-to-take-arpaios-side-here/621726.md?page=13)