Maricopa Co. Sheriff Joe Arpaio-
The confrontation underscores the feisty ground campaign being mounted on both sides - but also the increasing difficulty that Arpaio critics face in getting enough signatures to put a recall before voters.
Volunteers set up a table outside a music festival one day last month to gather signatures for a drive to oust the notoriously polarizing sheriff of metropolitan Phoenix. The venue, with its largely liberal crowd, seemed the perfect place to drum up support.
By JACQUES BILLEAUD
Associated Press
PHOENIX (AP) - The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's appeal of a ruling that criticized his jail officers' decision to force pink underwear onto a mentally ill inmate who erroneously believed jailers were trying to rape him.
Monday's refusal by the Supreme Court means the lawsuit by Eric Vogel's estate appears headed to trial for a second time.
Arpaio's office won the case at trial, but the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals threw out the verdict and called for a new trial in a ruling a year ago.
The 9th Circuit said that dressing inmates in pink underwear appears to be punishment without legal justification and noted that it's fair to infer that the selection of pink as the underwear color was meant to symbolize the loss of prisoners' masculinity.
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Copyright 2013 The Associated Press modified.
