A federal judge shot down former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio’s bid to sweep his criminal record clean despite his presidential pardon.
Arpaio was granted a pardon by President Donald Trump in August.
He had been found guilty of criminal contempt of a court order and faced a possibility of six months in jail.
After the pardon, Arpaio petitioned the court to clear his record. U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton said the pardon only freed Arpaio from possible punishment, not judicial recordkeeping.
In a four-page order offering a check on the president’s executive power, Bolton wrote that a pardon could not erase the facts the of the case.
The sheriff’s conviction stems from his failure to comply with a court order halting the detention of individuals based on their suspected immigration status.