Arpaio move to ditch judge ... may be justified

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio is seeking to give the old heave-ho to the federal judge who has basically made his life miserable over the last few years.

U.S. District Court Judge Murray Snow ruled several years ago that Arpaio's office engaged in widespread racial profiling against Latinos and is now considering whether to hold the sheriff in contempt for ignoring his orders aimed at forcing MCSO to abide by the U.S. Constitution.

Attorneys for Arpaio, in a motion filed Friday, said that Snow can no longer be an independent arbiter because he's investigated "issues involving his own family."

ACLU attorneys immediately branded the move a stall tactic and no doubt, it is.

It is also a fair question.

During a contempt hearing last month, Snow shocked everyone when he began questioning Arpaio about an investigation into Snow's wife.

Arpaio admitted that he'd had Snow's wife investigated after an informant told him he'd overhead her say that Snow "wanted to do everything to make sure [Arpaio is] not elected."

While Arpaio was on the witness stand, Snow actually pulled out a story by Phoenix New Times columnist Stephen Lemons, detailing a pair of secret investigations, one of which Snow saw as an effort to discredit him.

Snow, a well-regarded and experienced judge, was clearly irritated at the attempt to discredit him. Who wouldn't be? But here's the thing.

The Constitution doesn't just apply to Latinos, who have a right to go about their business without being harassed by sheriff's deputies because they have brown skin. It also applies to sheriffs who have a right to a strictly impartial judge.

And the voters of Maricopa County need to know that Arpaio is being fairly held to account by a judge who has no ax to grind, no matter how justified that ax might seem.