COURTS/JUSTICE DEPARTMENT/PARDONS/TRUMP PEOPLE: “A federal appeals court judge is challenging his 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, Chief 9th Circuit Judge Sidney Thomas said in an order Friday [6-1-18]. 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 of 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.”
-Josh Gerstein, “Mystery judge challenges plan for special prosecutor in Arpaio appeal,” Politico, June 1, 2018 2:34 pm