The original content of Democracy Now! Headlines appears under the Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 License (United States). For more, including their other shows and media, visit www.democracynow.org. August 31, 2017 Democratic Lawmakers Demand Hearing on Trump's Pardon of Joe Arpaio ------------------------------------------------------------------- On Capitol Hill, Democratic members of the House Judiciary Committee are demanding a hearing into why President Trump pardoned the notorious racist Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who was convicted of contempt of court for defying a court order to stop his deputies from racial profiling. All 17 Democratic members of the committee signed a letter to Republican Chair Bob Goodlatte, calling the pardon a "gross injustice" and saying it's "highly problematic for the President to simply dismiss a pending criminal matter." The letter came as a federal judge refused to throw out Arpaio's conviction for contempt of court-even though Trump's pardon will keep him out of prison-ordering Arpaio to appear in court on October 4. Arpaio's attorneys had asked U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton to vacate her finding that Arpaio is guilty of a crime. .