Mitt Romney's only comment on today's Supreme Court ruling against SB1070 is this written statement released a short time ago: “Today's decision underscores the need for a President who will lead on this critical issue and work in a bipartisan fashion to pursue a national immigration strategy. President Obama has failed to provide any leadership on immigration. This represents yet another broken … Read More
Scalia “Jumps The Shark”
Justice Scallia raves more against the politicization of the Supreme Court more than any justice in history, and yet, he barely even tries to hide the politics which guide is "objective" legal opinions. It's blatent, as Steve Benen observes: Scalia used the court's ruling on Arizona's anti-immigrant law to condemn President Obama and complain about the administration's enforcement policies. … Read More
Obamacare Decision Today?
It's possible, but I suspect not. Anyway, if you're reading this on Monday, June 25 before 10am, the place to be isn't here, but the live blog at SCOTUSBlog. We'll know almost imeediately if they decided on Obamacare. UPDATE: No Obamacare decision today, it looks like. But SCOTUS did reject a Montana case which could have weakened Citizen's United. Unfortunately, … Read More
All You Need To Know About Romney
So both Presidential candidates are speaking before the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, a very important Latino group if you want to woo crucial Latino voters. Obama, of course, brought immigration issues to the forefront earlier this week, by making an executive decision (i.e., no Congressional approval required) not to enforce deportation laws against immigrants who came to … Read More
Obama Ahead Of The Immigration Curve
Last week, Obama announced an amnesty of sorts (although he took pains not to call it that) when it comes to immigration. Essentially, he made an executive decision (one he can make without Congress) not to go after "illegal" aliens who came to this country at a very young age, and have stayed here, grown up, paid taxes, served in … Read More
Short Takes
* Britney Spears – who used to be famous – is engaged. Uh, to be married. Uh, again. She's 16 years old still. * Naughty Republicans — the mayor of Grandaven, Mississippi for 14 years — a guy named Greg Davis — re-ran for mayor in 2008 on a family values platform. You know where this is going, right? He's in … Read More
Supreme Court to Rule On Arizona Immigration Law
AP: The Supreme Court agreed Monday to rule on Arizona's controversial law targeting illegal immigrants, setting the stage for an election-year decision on an issue that is already shaping presidential politics. The justices said they will review a federal appeals court ruling that blocked several tough provisions in the Arizona law. One of those requires that police, while enforcing other … Read More
Today in Middle America
(1) A bill moving through the South Dakota legislature would make it legal to murder abortion providers: A law under consideration in South Dakota would expand the definition of “justifiable homicide” to include killings that are intended to prevent harm to a fetus—a move that could make it legal to kill doctors who perform abortions. The Republican-backed legislation, House Bill 1171, … Read More
Arizona’s Illegal Immigration Law Explained
NPR got to the bottom of Arizona's much-discussed controversial anti-immigration law — the one would require certain aliens to have documentation with them at all times, and gives the Arizona police broad powers to stop and detain anyone who appears to be an undocumented alien. The Arizona law would undoubtedly send hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants to prison in a … Read More
Arizona’s Latest Xenophobia
CNN: (CNN) – A proposed Arizona law would deny birth certificates to children born in the United States to illegal immigrant parents. The bill comes on the heels of Arizona passing the nation's toughest immigration law. John Kavanagh, a Republican state representative from Arizona who supports the proposed law aimed at so-called "anchor babies," said that the concept does not … Read More
Thought For The Day
To those who wish to point out that that Times Square bomber guy was a Muslim-American immigrant, and that this whole episode should serve as a reason to restrict legal immigration of Muslims, can I point out something? The man who alerted the authorities to the car bomb and possibly saved dozens or even hundreds of lives was also a Muslim-American who immigrated … Read More
Arizona Explained With Crayons
By the way, the right wingnuts in the Airzona legislature aren't through with the crazy. Now they are taking on human-animal hybrids: The Arizona state Senate on Thursday passed a bill making it illegal for a person to “intentionally or knowingly creating a human-animal hybrid.” The bill, which passed 16 to 12, would prohibit anyone in the state from “creating … Read More
Arizona Moving To Modify Its Anti-Immigration Law
From Arizona Central: The Arizona House approved several new changes to Arizona's new immigration law. The changes still need final approval from the Senate before being passed along to the governor. If Gov. Jan Brewer supports them, they would go into effect at the same time the new law would. The phrase "lawful contact" would be changed to "lawful stop, … Read More
And That’s The Deal My Dear
I'm probably making more of this Arizona anti-immigration law than I ought to. As I wrote before, the thing just won't survive all the constitutional challenges that are sure to come in court. But on the off-chance that the Arizona law survives legal battles, it's still facing another tough opponent: Colombian-born pop star Shakira will meet with the mayor of … Read More
Arizona To Feds: Help Enforce Our Own Draconian Law
This is pretty ballsy: The Arizona agency tasked with training 15,000 law officers to enforce the state's controversial new illegal immigration law has asked federal authorities for assistance, but administration officials say it is unclear whether the government will help. Lyle Mann, executive director of the Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board, says federal assistance is "critical" to what … Read More