SB1070 News Roundup
This is just a quick round up of the news stories on the partial injunction on SB1070.
U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton's decision Wednesday to block key provisions of Arizona's controversial immigration-enforcement law throws more turmoil into an already tumultuous legal and political controversy.
Leading up to 12:01 this morning, when the law took effect:
• Police struggled to figure out how they should enforce portions of Senate Bill 1070 that were not blocked by Bolton's ruling in favor of the U.S. Department of Justice.
• Gov. Jan Brewer and her attorneys debated whether to fight the preliminary injunction before deciding to appeal amid speculation that the case may wind up before the U.S. Supreme Court.
• Demonstrators for and against the statute discussed whether to proceed with statewide protests, including plans for civil disobedience.
• Illegal immigrants, many of them hunkered down or contemplating an exodus from the state, remained in limbo.
• And everyone awaited further rulings from Bolton, who has yet to deal with motions in six additional lawsuits filed against SB 1070 by the ACLU, other activist groups and police officers.
The one constant: Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio said that he is going ahead with "crime suppression" sweeps today and that the federal injunction will have virtually no impact on his deputies.
Reason # 1: The polling on this issue is very clear. The position a candidate takes on the Arizona lawsuit appears to affect the voting decisions of only one group: Latino voters.
According to data released a month ago by Public Policy Polling (PPP), Texas Governor Rick Perry lost his early lead over Democratic challenger Bill White and the race is now tied. The movement from a previous PPP poll in February comes entirely from Hispanic voters. PPP reports that:
Until the Arizona law came along, may Hispanic voters were demoralized by the difficulty of passing promised comprehensive immigration reform.
"With white voters Perry led 54-36 then and leads 55-35 now. With black voters White led 81-12 then and 70 -7 now. But with Hispanics Perry has gone from leading 53-41 to trailing 55-21....there is no doubt the (Arizona) immigration bill is popular nationally. But if it causes Hispanics to change their voting behavior without a parallel shift among whites then it's going to end up playing to Democratic advantage this fall."
Reason #2. Completely apart from the impact the Arizona law has on persuadable voters, it will have an energizing effect on mobilizable Hispanic voters -- voters who would vote Democratic but are unlikely to vote unless they are mobilized.
The Atlantic - Max Fisher - 5 Political Effects of Blocking Arizona Immigration Law
Sets Stage for More Federal-vs-State Conflict The New York Times' Julia Preston says this ruling will "assert the primary authority of the federal government over state lawmakers in immigration matters. ...
Could Spark Nationwide Backlash Against Obama Libertarian blogger Doug Mataconis writes, "Polls have shown repeatedly that a large majority of Americans support Arizona’s law and a new polls shows that similar majorities oppose the Justice Department’s decision to sue the State of Arizona.
Could Be Bad, Bad News for Harry Reid Liberal blogger Steve M. worries, "I'm not convinced that this is a win for [Senate Majority Leader] Harry Reid -- in fact, I think it may be a life preserver for Sharron Angle's campaign, which recently has been taking on water. Angle wanted the race to be about Reid, and Reid has been succeeding in making it about Angle, but now it's going to be about neither -- it's going to be about Obama. ... I'm not convinced that Hispanics in Nevada are going to turn out in droves to vote for Reid because an Obama strategy blocked implementation of this law."
Will It Galvanize Voters for November? The Guardian's Michael Tomasky predicts, "There seems little doubt that this ruling will rile up the conservative base heading into the elections. It doesn't help the liberal side that along with the federal government, another winner here today is the American Civil Liberties Union."
AZ Gov. Jan Brewer Gets Even More Popular The Washington Post's Jerry Markon and Stephanie McCrummen write, "Republicans condemned Bolton's decision and what they called the administration's failure to fight illegal immigration. They were led by Brewer, who also criticized unspecified "fear-mongers, those dealing in hate" and others who have spurred economic boycotts of the state.
What It Won't Change: Immigration Furor The Washington Post's Greg Sargent sighs, "A Federal judge has temporarily blocked key parts of the Arizona immigration law, but the underlying problems and explosive political tensions remain entirely unchanged."
The Associated Press - Bob Christie - Arizona preparing appeal of immigration ruling
The Guardian - Michael Tomasky - Judge Blocks Part of Arizona Law Now What
I just this instant heard Jonathan Turley of Georgetown law say on TV that four court justices would be quite hostile to Bolton's ruling. I assume he means the conservative bloc. How do they rule against the supremacy clause? That seems like a challenge for them. Something tells me that if, say, Vermont were challenging federal supremacy on the right to reduce the sentences of federal prisoners, that bloc would find it to be a pretty open-and-shut supremacy clause matter.
Republicans quickly denounced both the ruling and the Obama Justice Department for challenging the law in the first place. Some said the ruling would further energize voters who are angry about what they see as federal overreach on health care and other issues.
Rep. John Boozman, the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate in Arkansas, said he expected the judge's ruling to further rile voters and motivate them to reject Democratic incumbents. "It's a defining issue," Mr. Boozman said. Mr. Boozman takes questions at every town hall, he said, and "this will come up at every one."
Democrats, divided on the issue and running against stiff political headwinds, were unsure how the ruling would play out.
Some called it an unhelpful distraction from the campaigns they have been building around jobs, economic themes and border enforcement. Pat Waak, chairwoman of the Colorado Democratic Party, said candidates can't win in the fall if they aren't talking about jobs and the economy.
"We're not talking about credit-card companies not being able to take advantage of you, or student loans," she said. "We have to be the messengers of what affects your life."
Other Democrats said U.S. District Judge Susan R. Bolton had usefully inserted herself between the two political lightning rods—the Arizona law and the Obama administration.
Rep. Raul Grijalva (D., Ariz.), who had encouraged the Justice Department suit, said Democrats can now say that however one feels about the Arizona law, major elements of it have been put into question by a judge. "This helps Democrats talk about solutions," he said in an interview
New York Times - Editorial - Showdown in Arizona
Arizona’s law is not a case of a state helping the federal government do a job it neglected. It is a radical upending of immigration priorities, part of a spiteful crusade to force a mass exodus of illegal immigrants. Arizona still has a governor, legislators and law officers determined to pursue immigration enforcement at any cost. It has the country’s most prolific immigrant-hunting machinery, mostly because of the Maricopa County sheriff, who indiscriminately raids Latino neighborhoods. With demonstrators converging on the state this week, Arizona threatens to become a national fracturing point on immigration. The Obama administration can do more than just watch. It can reassert the importance of sensible national immigration policies.
The administration can start by rethinking two troubling programs — Secure Communities, which requires immigration checks for everyone booked into a jail, and 287(g), in which local law-enforcement officials are deputized as immigration agents in task forces and in jails.
New York Times - Julie Preston - Ruling Against Arizona is a Warning to other States
- Kristian Ramos's blog
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