Boies Schiller Partner Tapped as Special Prosecutor in Arpaio Appeal
Christopher Caldwell
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has tapped Boies Schiller Flexner partner Christopher Caldwell as a special prosecutor to defend the contempt of court conviction of former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.
Caldwell was a founding partner in Los Angeles-based litigation boutique Caldwell Leslie & Proctor, which was absorbed by Boies Schiller last year. According to his firm bio, Caldwell served as a trial lawyer in the public integrity section of the Department of Justice's Criminal Division in the mid-1980s before moving into private practice where he focuses on cases involving the entertainment industry, intellectual property, securities, employment, professional liability, and white collar crimes. Caldwell didn't immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
A deeply divided Ninth Circuit last week signed off on an earlier panel decision appointing a special prosecutor in the case. After President Donald Trump pardoned Arpaio last year, U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton of the District of Arizona dismissed the government’s case at his lawyers’ request, but declined to vacate the court record in the case, finding the president’s pardon “does not erase a judgment of conviction, or its underlying legal and factual findings.”
When Arpaio's lawyers appealed that ruling, Department of Justice lawyers agreed with the defense that Bolton below should have erased Arpaio’s criminal contempt verdict. Two members of a divided Ninth Circuit motions panel—Circuit Judges A. Wallace Tashima and William Fletcher—in April found that they had the authority to appoint a special prosecutor under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 42. In dissent, Judge Richard Tallman wrote that the move was “ill-advised and unnecessary.”
Tallman on Monday concurred with an order from Tashima and Fletcher appointing Caldwell but still noted that he thought the correct course of action would be to appoint amicus curiae to defend the district court's ruling on the vacatur issue. "Having failed to persuade my colleagues, however, I respect the Court’s decision and therefore regrettably must concur in the form of the order appointing special prosecutor Caldwell," he wrote.
Read more:
In Arpaio Case, Deeply Divided Ninth Circuit Stands By Decision to Appoint Special Prosecutor
Ninth Circuit Holds Maricopa County Liable for Former Sheriff’s ‘Racially Discriminatory Policing’
With DOJ Asking to Vacate Joe Arpaio’s Contempt Record, Ninth Circuit to Appoint Special Prosecutor
Q&A: Covington & Burling Partner Takes On Arpaio, Again
