In Valley, a “bipartisan group of lawyers” gathered outside the Sandra Day O’Conner courthouse in scorching heat on Tuesday afternoon. They spoke out against Trump’s pardon to Arpaio, and they stood firm as lawyers and citizens to support and defend our judicial system and law.

Republican lawyer and former Arizona Attorney General Grant Woods said, “The way this president acted, the things that he’s done, in so many areas have nothing to do with the republican party that I grew up in. And it’s certainly not reflective of somebody who’s supposedly a conservative”.

“It is not conservative to abuse constitution and call people heroes who systematically abuse the constitutional rights of American citizens. People who are conservatives supposedly don’t want big, powerful government”.

“It’s also not conservative to say that people believe in the rule of law and then when we have judges who apply that rule of law,regardless of the status of person that’s in defendant’s chair, that you go after them personally. You say that it’s all politics. You say it’s because of their political backgrounds. You misrepresent who they are and what they’ve stood for their entire careers. We are the lawyers of this community. And we know these judges don’t do that”.

Joe Arpaio faced a six months jail at his sentence in October where a federal judge convicted him guilty of ignoring a court order, that order required him to stop immigration patrols amid complains that he was rationally profiling Latinos.

In association with vigil, the Arizona Justice Project also released a statement about the president’s power to pardon and grant clemency.

Arizona Governor Doug Ducey wouldn’t say whether he supports the pardon, but he says that Arpaio is a friend who helped in reducing the crime in Arizona. He also said that his support for former sheriff should not be considered as slap in the face of Latino voters of the state.

By A.s