The Washington Post:

A federal appeals court ruled Monday that the most contested provisions of an Arizona immigration law passed last year will remain blocked from taking effect, handing the Obama administration a victory in its efforts to overturn the legislation

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit upheld a lower court ruling that put on hold key provisions of the Arizona law, which empowers police to question people whom they have a “reasonable suspicion” are illegal immigrants. The measure has triggered a fierce national debate, and the legal case is being watched by other states and advocates on both sides of the issue.

In a split decision, a three-judge panel found that U.S. District Judge Susan R. Bolton “did not abuse” her discretion in blocking parts of the law that, among other things, require police to check immigration status if they stop someone while enforcing other laws.

 The 8th Circuit ruling  should not affect how things are run in Prince William County since our law enforcement officers must check all immigration status upon arrest, regardless of the person.  We need to watch carefully to make sure that none of our elected officials get some bee in the bonnet to start it up again.

The WaPo  further adds:

Judge Richard A. Paez, who wrote the majority opinion, used strong language as he appeared to endorse the administration’s position that Arizona’s law intrudes on federal immigration enforcement and is “preempted” by federal law.

“Arizona has attempted to hijack a discretionary role that Congress delegated to the Executive,’’ the decision said, adding that the Arizona law would “usurp” the U.S. attorney general’s role in directing any state enforcement of federal immigration laws.

Judge Carlos T. Bea dissented from parts of the ruling.

Where does SB 1070 go now?  Was it just a national attention-getter to pump up the immigration issue to get Jan Brewer elected?  Will the components from SB 1070 go to the Supreme Court or more to the point, will they agree to hear the case?

For those of us here in Prince William County, does this ruling affect us?  Does it affect Corey Stewart’s Rule of Law Campaign? 

25 Thoughts to “Things got awfully quiet in AZ”

  1. IVAN

    Stewart’s Rule of Law campaign died awhile ago from a total lack of interest.

  2. marinm

    MH, what’s interesting to me… is the Judges that handled the case.

    Paez is Mexican-American and Bea was born in Spain and emigrated to the US. Bea was the only one to offer a dissent.

  3. Wolverine

    The 9th Circuit has become sort of just an obligatory waystop on the way to SCOTUS. Brewer has already said that Arizona will take this to SCOTUS, and I bet they will. It will be up to SCOTUS to accept the appeal or not; but, given that this has come down to a dispute between the federal government and a member state of the Union, it looks to me like prime material for a SCOTUS deliberation. Whatever way it comes out, look for the feds to get some egg on the face during the arguments and accompanying publicity — egg in the form of accusations that, legalities aside, the federal government has fallen on its face with regard to immigration. Kind of odd to see someone claiming primacy with regard to a job which they have not been doing very well for a long time.

  4. That is sure one peeing contest I wouldn’t want to get in.

    The reality of what people want to happen vs the reality of what is possible to control is on a collision course.

    Jan Brewer doesn’t always make the best decisions.

  5. marinm

    With the 9th getting it wrong 80% of the time Gov Brewer would be a fool not to press forward.. She has nothing to lose.

    1. @marin other than $$$$$$$. She has spent millions on this issue.

      Who says the 9th gets it wrong 80% of the time? Is that a stat or an opinon?

  6. Starryflights

    marinm :MH, what’s interesting to me… is the Judges that handled the case.
    Paez is Mexican-American and Bea was born in Spain and emigrated to the US. Bea was the only one to offer a dissent.

    What an ignorant and bigoted comment to make. If that’s the only argument you have with this court’s decision, then it will no doubt be upheld.

    Arizona needs to respect the the Constitution of the United States.

  7. marinm

    @Starryflights

    Which part is ignorant and bigoted?

  8. @marinm
    LOL! Marin, Spain is part of Europe! The Spanish conquered the natives of Hispanic countries.

    As for AZ, am suspicious of any state that disregards daylight savings time. 🙂

  9. marinm

    DST is a plot by corporate America and the government. 😉

    I think it’s amusing that I’m being called a bigot for posting an interesting fact of the case.

    I think on my fathers line we trace back to Spain but I’ll never admit it. The blood in my body is AMERICAN not Eurotrash!

  10. Arrrgghhh re Day Light Saving Time. @Marin.

    DST is great. Actually it was probably used more by the military. In WWII I have read there was even double DST. It was invented by a guy who collected insects.

  11. Eurotrash? Is that a continental slur?

  12. @marinm
    Hee hee. I hate DST. It screws up our body clock. It worked when we were an agricultural society but I think it has lost its usefulness for the most part. We have streetlights for a reason.

    So okay, if you are American from Spanish decent, then your judge should also be, right? What’s the problem with a Spanish judge then?

  13. marinm

    Nothing. I see nothing wrong with the Judges that tried the case. I just find it amusing in the greater context that a decision on immigration was handled by a white, a mexican-american and an immigrant. Talk about a melting pot.

    Also, I *do* find it a little amusing that the dissent came from the guy that immigrated.

    But, what do I know. I’m a bigot. 🙂

    1. @marin that is rather ironic. I agree.

  14. @marinm
    Well, there are a lot of people in AZ who are of Hispanic descent. The guy from Spain isn’t. He’s European. There are a lot of “white” people here in PWC and they are on the BOCS. It’s the “whitest” board I’VE ever seen.

  15. Isn’t it ironic that the BOCS trashed immigrants when the BOCS is all white?

    1. @pinko ummm…not really.

  16. Wolverine

    Really, Moon, isn’t use of the phrase “trashed immigrants” a distortion? I thought the issue was “illegal immigrants.”

  17. @Wolverine
    Wolverine, I do not even want to go down that road again. MH knows what I mean by “trashed immigrants.” And no, it’s not just illegal immigrants that were hurt (and are still being hurt).

  18. @Wolverine,

    I didn’t use the term ‘trashed immigrants.’

    Secondly, it is difficult to distinguish who is legal and who is illegal in this county. How does one know unless law enforcement has checked their status? Saving ‘just illegal immigrants’ (or any other terms people used) really doesn’t make it so if ‘illegal’ is just an abstraction.

  19. Wolverine

    Sorry, Moon and Pinko, I missed the poster on that one. Just a personal reaction to something I have seen too often of late. My reaction is in line with some very appropriate truths seen here about repeating something which is inaccurate so often that it becomes the reality for many listeners or readers.

    I have no problem whatsoever with legal immigrants whatever their country of origin. I do have problems with illegal immigrants, especially with the violations of our laws and zoning ordinances by so many of them. The opposition on this issue has often taken the route of deliberately dropping the word “illegal” in discussions, trying to convince others that someone like myself has a xenophobia against all immigrants. It’s a damnable lie, but it gets deliberately repeated time after time. If any legal immigrants are being “hurt”, it is not me doing it nor anyone I know. I live in a town which has been affected by recent demographic changes just as much as Manassas or Manassas Park. I don’t see legal immigrants cringing in fear at the thought of possible discrimination or worse. In fact, in my experience it is the legal immigrants who are often the most critical of the actions of illegal immigrants because those legal immigrants are affected in the same way as the rest of us, particularly by street crime and loss of property values.

    If you guys have a beef out your way with someone in particular over this issue, all I ask is not to generalize about all the rest of us by adopting the deceptive terms. That’s all.

  20. @Wolverine
    “If any legal immigrants are being “hurt”, it is not me doing it nor anyone I know.”

    I doubt your are the problem, Wolverine. Who is? Want me to list them? Okay. I will go that far.

    1. Corey Stewart and John Stirrup, Bigots at Large
    2. GL and his gang of merry bigots and hatemongers
    3. Seriously violent immigrants who are here illegally
    4. The feds who aren’t doing their jobs to clean up immigration laws and/or establish a viable work program
    5. Anyone who treats immigrants like trash
    6. Anyone who calls immigrants leeches, roaches and anchor babies
    7. Anyone who refuses to consider the humanitarian issues behind illegal immigration
    8. Anyone who prefers to attack immigrants instead of addressing community and communication issues
    9. Leaders who promote the expensive, impossible “deport them all” mentality
    10. Leaders who would rather jail immigrants and overload the justice system for petty crimes as opposed to referring immigrants to educational and rehab programs
    11. RD who tells people who defend immigrant rights that they are ‘betraying their own race.’
    12. Leaders who support hate groups like FAIR
    13. Extremists

    13 is indeed an unlucky number, isn’t it?

  21. Oh and I forgot to add MC of the BOCS to this list. Apparently, it’s only okay for some people to spout off without retaliation. And it’s okay for her to treat people like crap even if she doesn’t know people who are advocating for immigrant’s rights.

    Ooops. Forgot to mention the Dems on the board who don’t support free speech (read, “immigrant advocacy”).

    And how about the groups and politicians who slammed Chief Dean who is trying to be rational about the whole thing?

    (In case you haven’t noticed, I am in a “F*** them all” mood this morning.)

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