Lawyers for outgoing Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio are asking a federal court to remove the judge overseeing his racial profiling case.

Arpaio’s lawyers not only want federal Judge Murray Snow off the case, but also the court appointed Monitor to go. The briefings argue the two have engaged in “private, off-the-record meetings and communications.” That would be prohibited under federal law.  

The filings also say the court is improperly micromanaging the internal operations of a local agency. Arpaio faces separate criminal charges for prolonging his immigration patrols for 17 months after a judge ordered them stopped.

He has pleaded not guilty to that and his trial is set for April.

After six terms in office, Arpaio lost his re-election bid to democrat Paul Penzone.