Welcome to ...

The place where the world comes together in honesty and mirth.
Windmills Tilted, Scared Cows Butchered, Lies Skewered on the Lance of Reality ... or something to that effect.


Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Supreme Indecision

Supreme Court leaves Arizona "papers please" provision, strikes down other sections of Immigration Law

Early news in what promises to be a supremely courtly week.

Arizona's immigration law has been struck down, but the provision that allows a check of citizenship at roadside police stops has been left standing (for now).

Early report from USA Today:
The Supreme Court today struck down most of Arizona's controversial law aimed at cracking down on illegal immigrants.

The court left standing only the "check your papers" part of the law that requires state and local police to perform roadside immigration checks of people they've stopped or detained if a "reasonable suspicion" exists that they are in the country illegally.

The court indicated, however, that even that section could face further legal challenges.
The parts of the law that were reversed are those that:
Make it a state crime for illegal immigrants not to possess their federal registration cards;

Make it a crime for illegal imigrants to work, apply for work or solicit work;

Allow state and local police to arrest illegal immigrants without a warrant when probable cause exists that they committed "any public offense that makes the person removable from the United States."
Justice Kagan did not take part in the ruling.

CBS News offers this comment:
Rather than focusing on the law's potential to create racial discrimination, the U.S. government challenged the law in court based on the concept of federal supremacy. Immigration regulation, the federal government argued, should be in the hands of the federal government, not the states.
More as it develops. Get ready.

Corporate campaign spending limits rejected
The Supreme Court on Monday reaffirmed its 2-year-old decision allowing corporations to spend freely to influence elections.

No comments: