Arizona gets its day in court

Daniel Horowitz:

Article 4 Section 4 of the Constitution (the Guarantee Clause) directs the federal government to guarantee the states protection from invasion.  Yet, in the case of Arizona, which has been disproportionately effected by the invasion of illegal aliens and drug cartels, the Obama administration has guaranteed them nothing but lawsuits.

In April 2010, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed SB 1070, a bill designed to curb illegal immigration, into law.  Among other things, this law (section 2) requires police officers who were already apprehending suspects for other crimes to check with federal authorities whether that individual is in the country legally.  That inquiry can be made only if there is a reasonable suspicion that the suspect is an illegal alien.

Instead of working in concert with Arizona to protect its citizens from border-related violence, as prescribed by numerous laws of Congress, the Obama administration filed a lawsuit against Arizona in federal court.  Most egregiously, that lawsuit was first announced by Hillary Clinton while she was overseas.  The administration basically argued that states are preempted from enforcing immigration laws, and because the Obama administration has decided not to enforce those laws, Arizona was supplanting federal authority.  The Obama Justice Department has also filed lawsuits against several other states that have passed similar legislation last year.

On July 28, 2010, federal district judge Susan Bolton issued a preliminary injunction on most of the key components of the law.  That injunction was upheld by the Ninth Circus court last April.  Despite the fact that most of the law has been enjoined for almost two years, the illegal population in Arizona has dropped precipitously.  The law has served as a paradigm for ‘attrition even before enforcement,’ let alone through enforcement.

On Wednesday, Arizona will finally get its day in the Supreme Court, as the highest court in the land hears oral arguments in Arizona v. United States.

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Arizona's laws have begun to reverse the illegal immigration into this country regardless of Obama's attempts to reverse their effects.  I believe the supreme court should find the Arizona law constitutional.  Obama's position is that he does not want to enforce the law and he does not want states forcing him to do so even to stop the illegal invasion of their territory.  He is pandering to the tribal attitudes of some Hispanics in hopes that it will generate votes for Democrats.  I think he and other Democrats see illegals as future Democrat voters rather than a problem.