He Was the Most Notorious Sheriff in America. He Says the Supreme Court Vindicated Him.

"While many lawyers and advocates for immigrants have decried SCOTUS' implicit permission for continued racial profiling, the 93-year-old retired lawman sees the 6-3 decision as a vindication of his aggressive and constitutionally questionable policing tactics in arresting Latinos. "I was just cleared by the Supreme Court," Arpaio explained to me over the phone. "Obama and Biden went after me for racial profiling. ... They went after me [and] the Supreme Court ruled in my favor last month.""

"The complaint in Noem v. Vasquez Perdomo described the weekslong siege in Los Angeles as one of rampant racial profiling and excessive violence by masked agents: "Individuals with brown skin are approached or pulled aside by unidentified federal agents, suddenly and with a show of force, and made to answer questions about who they are and where they are from." Some of the people cuffed and interrogated by immigration agents were U.S. citizens."

Joe Arpaio presided over racially targeted, aggressive policing in Maricopa County for more than two decades and faced criminal contempt charges before receiving a presidential pardon. The Supreme Court's shadow-docket decision in Noem v. Vasquez Perdomo is described as effectively allowing racial profiling by immigration agents. The complaint recounts masked agents singling out individuals with brown skin, detaining and interrogating them with force, and sometimes assaulting them. Some detainees were U.S. citizens and some experienced repeated assaults and interrogations. Immigrant advocates condemned the decision while Arpaio claims it vindicates his tactics.

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