FEDERAL GOVT. TO FILE SUIT AGAINST ARIZONA – BLOCKING 'PAPERS PLEASE' LAW

We don’t know what the lawyers who drafted Arizona’s SB 1070 law are thinking when they say federal lawsuits won’t work against it. Gov. Jan Brewer has been saying regularly that the “Papers Please” law mirrors federal legislation. She was even bolder on Fox News Thursday when she declared, “(I)f the president won’t enforce those laws, then Arizona will! Arizona will!” No, Arizona won’t. As expected, the Justice Dept. will be filing suit against the state, citing a little thing called “preemption”. In a nutshell it means federal law is over state law, and the states can’t just pass any ol’ law they want to if it doesn’t meet the will of the nation – which, whether they want to accept it or not, is represented by the Federal Government. This means that the countdown to July 29, when the law was to go into effect, will be rendered moot – not counting Bull Connor wannabe Joe Arpaio’s BS to mount a “sweep” in the poorer areas of Phoenix “looking for illegals”. It also means these silly, anti-Hispanic, right-leaning legislators around the country are going to have to find another way to attack the Hispanic community, since their efforts to pass legislation similar to Arizona’s in their state is going to get the smackdown put on it. Summer just got hotter, and the left has the ice water!

Washington Post

The Justice Department has decided to file suit against Arizona on the grounds that the state’s new immigration law illegally intrudes on federal prerogatives, law enforcement sources said Monday.

The lawsuit, which three sources said could be filed as early as Tuesday, will invoke for its main argument the legal doctrine of “preemption,” which is based on the Constitution’s supremacy clause and says that federal law trumps state statutes. Justice Department officials believe that enforcing immigration laws is a federal responsibility, the sources said.

A federal lawsuit will dramatically escalate the legal and political battle over the Arizona law, which gives police the power to question anyone if they have a “reasonable suspicion” that the person is an illegal immigrant. The measure has drawn words of condemnation from President Obama and Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. and opposition from civil rights groups. It also has prompted at least five other lawsuits. Arizona officials have urged the Obama administration not to sue.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton first revealed last month that the Justice Department intended to sue Arizona, and department lawyers have been preparing their case, said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the government has not announced its plans. The filing is expected to include declarations from other U.S. agencies saying that the Arizona law would place a undue burden on their ability to enforce immigration laws nationwide, because Arizona police are expected to refer so many illegal immigrants to federal authorities.

The preemption doctrine has been established in Supreme Court decisions, and some legal experts have said such a federal argument likely would persuade a judge to declare the law unconstitutional.

But lawyers who helped draft the Arizona legislation have expressed doubt that a preemption argument would prevail. The law, signed by Gov. Jan Brewer (R) in April, is scheduled to take effect later this month.