Federal judge finds against Arpaio in civil rights pre-trial motion News
Federal judge finds against Arpaio in civil rights pre-trial motion

[JURIST] A judge for the US District Court for the District of Arizona [official website] issued a pre-trial order Monday accepting another court’s finding of racial profiling by Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio [official profile]. Hearing a lawsuit brought by the US Department of Justice [official website] (DOJ), US District Court Judge Roslyn Silver accepted the finding [Arizona Republic report] from a previous case brough by the ACLU that found Arpaio racially profiled against Hispanic drivers in traffic stops and said the DOJ would not need to litigate this issue. The DOJ filed charges against the Sheriff’s Office for discriminatory practices in traffic stops, work and home raids, and in county jails, as well as claims of retaliation. The remaining issues will be argued at trial, scheduled [Reuters report] for August 10 in Phoenix. The DOJ filed [JURIST report] the suit alleging discriminatory conduct against Maricopa County, Arizona, the MCSO and Arpaio in 2012.

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit [official website] ruled in April that Arpaio, engaged in practices of racial profiling [JURIST report] when conducting traffic stops. In January, a federal court ruled [JURIST report] Maricopa County officials may not enforce two Arizona identity-theft laws used to convict hundreds of undocumented immigrant workers. In October of last year a federal judge ordered [JURIST report] Arpaio to undergo the same training as his deputies to assist in the prevention of racial profiling and unlawful detention in the Sheriff’s Office as part of the ongoing case against Arpaio for racial profiling. In 2013 a federal judge ruled that Arpaio and his department engaged in unconstitutional racial profiling [JURIST report] during the execution of immigration patrols.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Fyodor Dostoevsky sentenced to death

Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky was sentenced to death on November 16, 1849 over his involvement in the progressive Petrashevsky Circle of intellectuals. Dostoevsky and his codefendants were scheduled to be executed on December 22 of that year, but their execution was stayed by Tsar Nicholas I after the execution ritual had been carried out. Dostoevsky was sent to Siberia instead to serve a four-year sentence. Learn more about the mock execution of Dostoevsky.

Canada executed Metis leader for treason

On November 16, 1885, the Canadian government executed Metis leader Louis Riel for high treason in the wake of the "Northwest Rebellion" that had pitted the Metis (descendants of French traders and native tribes) in what is now Saskatchewan against Canadian troops. Although Riel has lately been rehabilitated as an Indigenous francophone patriot of the Canadian West, his trial and execution remain sore points between English and French Canada.

US President Nixon signs Trans-Alaska Pipeline Act

On November 16, 1973, US President Richard Nixon signed the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Act into law. In addition to creating an oil pipeline across the state, the Act also quashed all environmental-legal challenges regarding its construction.