Friday, June 04, 2010

Obama administration challenging another Arizona law while they’re at it

I guess the Obama administration doesn’t think that challenging SB 1070 is enough:

The Obama administration is asking the Supreme Court to overturn an appeals court decision that upheld Arizona's right to punish employers for hiring illegal immigrants.

The Arizona law gives the state the right to suspend or terminate business licenses.

"If you hire a person in this country illegally knowingly, you'll lose your license. First offense, 10 days. Second offense, revocation, never to do business in the state of Arizona again," said Arizona state Sen. Russell Pearce, a Republican who helped draft the new controversial Arizona law that cracks down on illegal immigrants.

The Obama administration apparently worries letting that law stand would leave in place a precedent that states have a legitimate role in enforcing immigration laws – a notion the administration fiercely opposes.

This law, which was signed by then-Governor and current Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, has withstood scrutiny in the courts before. And not just by anybody, but the insanely liberal 9th Circuit.

And why? The article explains:

The Arizona statue relies on a law passed by the U.S. Congress in 1986, which made clear federal law preempts the states on immigration – but left one exception: "The provisions of this section preempt any state or local law imposing civil or criminal sanctions (other than through licensing and similar laws) upon those who employ unauthorized aliens."

"Congress said very clearly that licensing and similar laws can be used to impose consequences on employers who hire unauthorized aliens at the state level," said Kris Kobach, a law professor at the University of Missouri, Kansas City. "And that's exactly what Arizona did."

I’d be surprised if the Supreme Court decides to even hear the case. Sounds pretty open-and-shut to me.

1 comment:

K T Cat said...

This totally annihilates the liberal trope that what we need to be doing is punishing employers instead of the illegal aliens.