(Photo by Casey Kuhn - KJZZ)

Former Arizona Attorney General Grant Woods denounced President Donald Trump's pardon of Joe Arpaio.

(Photo by Casey Kuhn - KJZZ)

Dozens of Phoenix lawyers gathered at the federal court on Tuesday.

Dozens of lawyers came together Tuesday in front of a federal courthouse in Phoenix to protest President Donald Trump's pardon of former sheriff Joe Arpaio. 

It was a bipartisan crowd coming out to hear local lawyers, like former Arizona Attorney General Grant Woods, denounce Trump's decision to pardon Arpaio.

"It's not conservative to abuse the Constitution and to call people heroes who systematically abuse the constitutional rights of American citizens," Woods said.

Arpaio was convicted last month of disobeying a court order to stop arresting people on suspicion of immigration violations.

The pardon came before Arpaio was sentenced — he was facing up to six months in jail.

Bill Hardin helped organize the vigil and said the point was to strengthen a message of respecting the legal process.

"It was also important for lawyers to show up to say the orders of our courts need to be respected, and whether we agree with them or not, it's our obligation to obey them," Hardin said.

He was joined by a former Superior Court judge and other lawyers to drum up attention on how lawyers can take a stand against what they consider an attack on the legal process.

"And in the shadow of the courtrooms, where Arpaio was found guilty of contempt, we stand here to support those judges who did the right thing in this case," Woods said.

Other lawyers encouraged the crowd to take more pro bono cases as a way of advocacy.