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The Justice Department has expressed concerns to Arizona about its new immigration law. Some believe that a lawsuit is going to follow:
Justice Department officials told Arizona’s attorney general and aides to the governor Friday that the federal government has serious reservations about the state’s new immigration law. They responded that a lawsuit against the state isn’t the answer.
“I told them we need solutions from Washington, not more lawsuits,” said Attorney General Terry Goddard, a Democrat.
The Justice Department initiated separate meetings by phone and face-to-face in Phoenix with Goddard and aides to Republican Gov. Jan Brewer to reach out to Arizona’s leaders and elicit information from state officials regarding the Obama administration’s concerns about the new law.
The strong message that the Justice Department representatives delivered at the private meetings – first with Goddard, then with Brewer’s staff – left little doubt that the Obama administration is prepared to go to court if necessary in a bid to block the new law, which takes effect July 29.
Click here to read more.
Sunny // May 30, 2010 at 12:27 pm
Having read the full article, I can find no specific mention by the feds of any actual _legal_ basis for any lawsuit, beyond a fear that it _may_ result in racial profiling and _may_ create a wedge between law enforcement and the communities it serves.
Won’t use the full force and power of the United States to actually address immigration, its specific constitutionally duty, but *will* use the full force and power of the United States to work to stop Arizona from creating and enforcing its own laws to deal with the _consequences_ of the US failure to act.
Bullies.
ktward // May 30, 2010 at 3:29 pm
Sunny: Won’t use the full force and power of the United States to actually address immigration…
CIR is far outside the dictates and scope of an Executive Order, and I’ve no idea why you might assert that our Exec branch–Obama & DOJ–is able to magically usurp the powers of Congress.
DOJ is doing precisely what it is tasked to do: enforce constitutionally sound law, and challenge potentially unconstitutional law.
Congress is the Fed arm responsible for dropping the CIR ball. GWB might, today, be remembered more favorably for signing decent CIR into law if it weren’t for his own GOP Congress critters.
Meantime, in light of the urgency pressed by 1070, Obama & DOJ have clearly been furiously rooting around for a legal stop-gap until Congress acts, and that goes well beyond this bit of news.
http://www.politico.com/blogs/joshgerstein/0510/DOJ_Ariz_law_Napolitano_signed_is_illegal.html?showall
In a filing Friday afternoon, Acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal asked the court to hear a challenge brought by employers and immigrant-rights groups to the employer-sanctions statute Napolitano signed in 2007.
By effectively joining the challenges to the law, the Obama Administration is asserting broad federal control of immigration–a position that will make it easier to pursue a lawsuit against the more controversial immigration law passed in Arizona this year allowing local police to make arrests of non-citizens lacking legal status.
To be continued.
ktward // May 31, 2010 at 2:47 pm
Sunny: Won’t use the full force and power of the United States to actually address immigration…
CIR is far outside the dictates and scope of an Executive Order; Obama & DOJ aren’t able to magically usurp the powers of Congress.
DOJ is doing precisely what it is tasked to do: enforce constitutionally sound law, and challenge potentially unconstitutional law. Congress is responsible for dropping the CIR ball. GWB might, today, be remembered more favorably than he is for signing decent CIR into law if it hadn’t been for his own GOP Congress critters.
Meantime, in light of the urgency pressed by 1070, Obama & DOJ have been rooting around for a strategic, legal stop-gap until Congress acts:
(Via Politico, but this site won’t allow me to post a link … wtf.)
In a filing Friday afternoon, Acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal asked the court to hear a challenge brought by employers and immigrant-rights groups to the employer-sanctions statute Napolitano signed in 2007.
By effectively joining the challenges to the law, the Obama Administration is asserting broad federal control of immigration–a position that will make it easier to pursue a lawsuit against the more controversial immigration law passed in Arizona this year allowing local police to make arrests of non-citizens lacking legal status.
To be continued.