On this week’s episode of Versus Trump, Easha, Jason, and Charlie discuss the President's pardon of Sheriff Joe Arpaio and the (so far unsuccessful) legal challenge to that pardon.

The discussion begins with a quick discussion of why Arpaio was charged with criminal contempt in the first place, and how several outside organizations are trying to contest the validity of the pardon by asking the district court not to dismiss the case against Arpaio. Easha then [at 6:00] gives us an overview of the law regarding the scope of the President's power to pardon those individuals charged or convicted with federal crimes, and Charlie explains [at 10:00] what contempt is and why it may be a special kind of federal crime outside the president's pardon power. Jason, however, doesn't buy it, and a debate ensues. The discussion then turns [at 25:00] to other theories for why the pardon may not have been lawful, and there proves to be more agreement there. Finally, the group turns [at 36:00] to what's next in the case, including a potential appeal of the trial court's decision to give effect to the pardon and dismiss the criminal case, and whether the president can prospectively pardon his associates. 

The episode ends with a couple of Trump nuggets about Governor Brown's veto of a bill we discussed a few weeks ago and a brief mention of the decision on Muslim Ban 3.0.

As usual, you can listen online below, and subscribe here with any podcast player or here in iTunes.

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Links

• Take Care commentary about the legality of the pardon can be found here and here, among other places.
• A helpful Slate article discussing the legal challenges to the pardon is here.
• We mentioned briefs by Protect Democracy, Erwin Chemerinsky, and Free Speech for People. UPDATE: On Thursday, 10/19, Judge Bolton issued a written ruling that denied Arapio's request to vacate the conviction entirely. That ruling is here. 
• An article discussing the dismissal of the case is here. (There was no written ruling.)
• The challengers' recent request to be able to appeal the dismissal is here.
• We mentioned a few key cases, including United Mine Workers v. Bagwell, Young v. US ex rel. Vuitton, U.S. v. Klein, and Ex Parte Grossman.
• Finally, Governor Brown's veto message for the tax return disclosure bill is here.

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