The Supreme Court issues a split decision on Arizona’s immigration law
Having grown tired with the federal government’s unwillingness to enforce immigration laws the state of Arizona decided to take matters into its own hands when Jan Brewer signed into law a strict illegal immigration law. There was only one problem with this move: The constitution, in Article 1 Section 8, gives the federal government the authority to regulate the naturalization process and the Supreme Court has already ruled that this clause gives the federal government the right to set immigration policy. This new law was on shaky ground to begin with and it was quickly challenged by the Obama regime, and today the Supreme Court handed down a split decision in the case.
In what came as no surprise to me the Supreme Court, by a 5-3 margin, struck down much of Arizona’s law including three of the most controversial aspects, and I know that this will not sit well with many conservatives but I believe this was the proper decision because if you believe in the supremacy of the constitution you cannot pick and chose which aspects of the constitution you would like to see violated no matter how just you feel the cause may be. While Arizona’s law mirrored the federal law this decision came down to who had the authority to enforce immigration law and the Supreme Court sided with the federal government and Article 1 Section 8 of the constitution.
But this was not a total victory for the federal government because the Supreme Court voted unanimously to uphold a police officer’s right to check the immigration status of a person who has been arrested for another crime if they feel that person may be in the country illegally. The only surprise bigger than the fact this provision was upheld is the fact that even the liberal justices voted in favor of the provision. I felt the entire law would be thrown out but that was not the case, and with the 8-0 ruling on this provision the Supreme Court has taken away an argument that Barack Obama was most likely going to use on the campaign trail: that argument being a radical right, racist, activist Supreme Court legalized racial profiling.
This has led to a somewhat bizarre scenario where nobody can be totally happy with the outcome of this ruling yet everybody is claiming victory at the same time.
The problem with immigration policy in the United States is not with the laws which are on the books, but rather with the federal government’s unwillingness to abide by the laws with which it doesn’t agree, and while I am sympathetic to Arizona’s plight, the proper way to deal with this problem is by holding the federal government accountable at the ballot box by voting out all those who feel it is justified to ignore federal laws with which it disagrees.
Barack Obama has made it clear where he stands on this issue when he issued an executive order which granted de facto amnesty to millions of illegal aliens and followed it up with an executive order implementing the DREAM Act without the approval of the Congress. And just today we learned that Janet Napolitano has basically broken off ties with Arizona and will not help the state when the police run background checks of suspected illegal immigrants in defiance of the Supreme Court ruling.
While the Arizona illegal immigration policy was doomed from the beginning it has helped to bring to light the Obama regime and its willingness to only support the laws with which it agrees and it has brought to the forefront the lawlessness of his regime and now it will be up to the people to decide which side they are on in November, and that is how it should be.
Good post, Steve. And correct. I was not surprised to see the Supreme Court make the ruling it made. It was to be expected and highlights the fact that we need to hold the federal government accountable.
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Thanks Larry, and I think you are right. This highlights the fact that it is our responsibility to hold the government accountable. Too many people, and those in the government, forget that it is the people who have the final say in the direction our country takes. It is time for us to remind them in November.
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Napolitanos action is petty and , in my opinion, anti-American. What would be different if Arizona authorities come across someone with counterfit money? Do they decide not to tell the Feds?
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Napolitano did come off as bitter and petty with this news, and while she might not like it the Supreme Court has ruled. If I had my way the feds would have been doing its job all along and Arizona wouldn’t have had to have taken this step in the first place.
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The state of Arizona should be able to have what laws trhey need to protect the people in their state! Wake up federeal government!!!!
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So the SCOTUS has ruled the Barry can exert the supremacy clause as it applies to him breaking the law. Scalia tore this thing apart.
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It is going to be up to us to remove this man from office in November and replace him with somebody who does believe in upholding the laws of the land. It is clear that Obama only wants to enforce the he likes while ignoring the laws he doesn’t agree with. This is a violatioin of the trust the American people put in him and in the end it will be this lack of trust which will be his undoing.
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The Obama regime has already set up an 800 number and email address for Hispanics to report civil rights violations!
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Looks like they have been preparing for this day for quite awhile!
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I also expected this ruling from the SCOTUS! The problem here is that had the federal government fullfilled it’s obligations to the “citizens” of Arizona the state law would have not been needed. It’s almost like calling the police when someone breaks into your home and they never come. Eventually you must act and Arizona did. And now, just today, the Feds are refusing to let Arizona authorities use the federal data base on illegals. As far as I know its the only state in the union that has this restriction placed on it. The high court acted within the letter of the law, but not in the spirit of it—-there was NO justice here.
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I agree Ron, Arizona shouldn’t have had to make this move in the first place and if the feds had done their job this never would have been an issue. It sickens my when I see Obama ignoring the immigration laws and it troubles me that he doesn’t understand he is charged with upholding ALL the laws, and it is now up to us to make sure he pays the price for this.
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If what you are saying is true, Ron, about the data base, this Administration is acting like a bunch of Jr. High School girls. The sooner we get some adults in there the better.
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The feds have basically cut off Arizona since this ruling came down and it is very vindictive if you ask me, but it does show us what we are dealing with here.
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I hope you guys aren’t naive enough to believe that a Romney administration will do anything differently. President Romney will weigh in one hand the burden placed on the taxpayers of subsidizing illegal aliens, and on the other hand he’ll consider the benefits to agribusiness and other big-league employers of illegal aliens.Then he’ll call his campaign treasurer for an update on contributions.
I have no doubt how he’ll act. My only question is why go to the expense of moving one out and another into the White House.
Take good care and may God bless us all!
TGY
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I am no fan of Romney, to put it lightly, and I do not think he will be any better than Obama on this issue and on many other issues either. I am not one who thinks tha simply voting for someone who is not Obama is good enough and there isn’t enough of a difference between Romney and Obama to fire me up into voting for him.
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TGY, you are right, there probably will NOT be a difference, but I at least want to make the effort. We are ALL in trouble with what is going on, it is NOT a partisan issue anymore.
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The only possible difference between the two is that Romney might decide to defend the laws which are on the books. However I wouldn’t put it passed him to attempt to change the laws to grant amnesty to illegal aliens. He came out against Obama for using an EO to implement the DREAM Act, but he didn’t come out against the DREAM Act itself and that is because he supports Obama’s position but not the manner in which he implemented it. Romney would seek to make Obama’s EO permanent.
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If you get a chance to hear Mark levin on this, it might change your mind about the importance of the way it went down. It does not bode well IMHO. It was last nights program and I have a link. Just saying!
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I heard that he was great last night and while I believe this was the right decision I am not happy about the way Obama has handled immigration in the least. I think he has been derelict of duty and must pay the price for it. We are in the process of losing our country and it is up to us to take it back before it is too late–if it isn’t already.
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I was furious when I heard how the supreme court has handled the ruling and I blame the justices obama put in that affect all future rulings. obama is now bringing in a bunch of new attorneys to do to the rest of the states what he’s done to Arizona. obama has brought in a bunch of new attorneys to fight any possible loss in the coming election, he is determined to stay in office. I’m not sure we’re going to be able to overturn this election when fraud is so widespread but I’m praying that fool loses.
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We have to hope that not only do we win the election outright, but that we beat the margin of fraud as well so that no recount can overturn the results.
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