"This regime of judicial overreach has cost taxpayers nearly $350 million dollars since 2013 with no end in sight."
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Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) has called on the Department of Justice to lift an "overbearing court-ordered monitor" that was set in motion by former President Barack Obama's Department of Justice in 2013. The order oversees the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office (MCSO). Biggs slammed the monitor as prolonged, costly, and a burden to police work.
"MCSO has worked tirelessly to comply with the court-ordered reforms, and it’s clear that the original goals of the oversight have been met," Biggs told The Post Millennial. "The continued monitoring, along with the growing costs associated with it, serves no legitimate purpose for the people of Maricopa County."
Biggs recounted in his letter to Bondi, "In 2013, a federal judge ruled against MCSO in a civil suit claiming the office racially profiled Latinos during traffic stops and similar operations. That October, a federal judge placed permanent injunctions on MCSO and began a series of judicial oversight actions against the department, later appointing Robert Warshaw as monitor over MCSO’s compliance efforts."
The ruling from the judge stemmed from a lawsuit brought by the Obama administration's DOJ in 2012, which claimed that the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office under former Sheriff Joseph Arpaio "engaged and continue to engage in a pattern or practice of unlawful discriminatory police conduct directed at Latinos in Maricopa County and jail practices that unlawfully discriminate against Latino prisoners with limited English language skills."
The suit cited the treatment of those who deputies suspected had crossed the border illegally. The order specifically referenced the arrest of Manuel de Jesús Ortega Melendres, who was detained after being pulled over in Maricopa County in 2007. He was let go after being held in an ICE detention cell.
Biggs argued in the letter that since then there have been "three different sheriffs" that "have worked to implement the ordered reforms, resulting in MCSO being in nearly full compliance despite the constant emergence of new standards and added reporting requirements."
When the order was first given, US District Court Judge Murray Snow ordered reforms to weed out racial profiling. Now, over a decade later, because there is a long review for different tasks, "This regime of judicial overreach has cost taxpayers nearly $350 million dollars since 2013 with no end in sight," Biggs added.
The individual who leads the monitor's office, Warshaw, Biggs alleged, has "previously engaged in prolonged and costly oversight of other law enforcement offices as well." The request from Biggs comes as the chairman of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, Thomas Galvin, wrote in a piece in early September that Warshaw is "moving the goalposts" when it comes to standards for the MCSO and added that "a system designed for past problems is preventing future progress."
Galvin also alleged that Warshaw has a financial incentive to keep the monitor's office going, stating that "$34 million has gone to him and his firm." He argued that the MCSO has changed significantly since the lawsuit, and one provision he cited as overbearing on police is that there is a requirement for sheriff deputies to "document 13 items, such as the perceived race of the driver and the total number of occupants in the vehicle, during each traffic stop." He added that in 12 of those 13 areas, MCSO is at 94 percent compliance.
Biggs said that the numerous administrative policies have "resulted in deputies leaving MCSO for other law enforcement departments as well as potential recruits choosing alternative career paths."
"Because of this and the multiplicity of burdens Warshaw’s continued monitoring of MCSO has placed on Maricopa County, I request that you move to resolve the case and end this more than decades-long overreach of the federal judiciary’s oversight activities," Biggs concluded.
"MCSO has worked tirelessly to comply with the court-ordered reforms, and it’s clear that the original goals of the oversight have been met," Biggs told The Post Millennial. "The continued monitoring, along with the growing costs associated with it, serves no legitimate purpose for the people of Maricopa County."
Biggs recounted in his letter to Bondi, "In 2013, a federal judge ruled against MCSO in a civil suit claiming the office racially profiled Latinos during traffic stops and similar operations. That October, a federal judge placed permanent injunctions on MCSO and began a series of judicial oversight actions against the department, later appointing Robert Warshaw as monitor over MCSO’s compliance efforts."
The ruling from the judge stemmed from a lawsuit brought by the Obama administration's DOJ in 2012, which claimed that the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office under former Sheriff Joseph Arpaio "engaged and continue to engage in a pattern or practice of unlawful discriminatory police conduct directed at Latinos in Maricopa County and jail practices that unlawfully discriminate against Latino prisoners with limited English language skills."
The suit cited the treatment of those who deputies suspected had crossed the border illegally. The order specifically referenced the arrest of Manuel de Jesús Ortega Melendres, who was detained after being pulled over in Maricopa County in 2007. He was let go after being held in an ICE detention cell.
Biggs argued in the letter that since then there have been "three different sheriffs" that "have worked to implement the ordered reforms, resulting in MCSO being in nearly full compliance despite the constant emergence of new standards and added reporting requirements."
When the order was first given, US District Court Judge Murray Snow ordered reforms to weed out racial profiling. Now, over a decade later, because there is a long review for different tasks, "This regime of judicial overreach has cost taxpayers nearly $350 million dollars since 2013 with no end in sight," Biggs added.
The individual who leads the monitor's office, Warshaw, Biggs alleged, has "previously engaged in prolonged and costly oversight of other law enforcement offices as well." The request from Biggs comes as the chairman of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, Thomas Galvin, wrote in a piece in early September that Warshaw is "moving the goalposts" when it comes to standards for the MCSO and added that "a system designed for past problems is preventing future progress."
Galvin also alleged that Warshaw has a financial incentive to keep the monitor's office going, stating that "$34 million has gone to him and his firm." He argued that the MCSO has changed significantly since the lawsuit, and one provision he cited as overbearing on police is that there is a requirement for sheriff deputies to "document 13 items, such as the perceived race of the driver and the total number of occupants in the vehicle, during each traffic stop." He added that in 12 of those 13 areas, MCSO is at 94 percent compliance.
Biggs said that the numerous administrative policies have "resulted in deputies leaving MCSO for other law enforcement departments as well as potential recruits choosing alternative career paths."
"Because of this and the multiplicity of burdens Warshaw’s continued monitoring of MCSO has placed on Maricopa County, I request that you move to resolve the case and end this more than decades-long overreach of the federal judiciary’s oversight activities," Biggs concluded.
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