"The United States is an indivisible Union of sovereign states. Today's opinion...deprives States of what most would consider the defining characteristic of sovereignty: the power to exclude from the sovereign's territory people who have no right to be there."
- Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia
June 27, 2012
By Linda Case Gibbons
He told Arizona, "you can’t have them; they’re mine,” and then he sued the state to make sure they got the point, taking it all the way to the Supreme Court.
"I may not want to play with them,” he said, "or enforce laws to protect them, but I don’t want you to, either.”
And the Supreme Court helped him out.
In a decision handed down this Monday, the Supreme Court struck down three of four provisions of the Arizona Immigration Enforcement Law, ruling that those sections of S.B. 1070 are preempted by federal jurisdiction over immigration policy.
Sections 3, 5C and 6 of the Arizona law fell. But it was not enough for Obama.
The president was mad as a wet hen because the Supreme Court upheld Section 2b, the part of the Arizona law which required officers, when conducting a stop, detention or arrest to make efforts to verify the person’s immigration status with the Federal Government.
And so he did what he always does. First he got angry, then he got even.
The ink wasn’t even dry on the Supreme Court Opinion before Obama, his Homeland Security Secretary and Attorney General sprang into action to teach Arizona a very public lesson.
Secretary Napolitano immediately revoked Arizona’s 287(g) agreement, suspending Arizona’s instant access to the federal immigration database used to determine the legal status of arrested suspects, thereby pulling out every tooth that was left in the Arizona bill.
Then she instructed federal immigration enforcement personnel assigned to Arizona not to respond to requests from state and local police officers for assistance in enforcing immigration laws.
It was also made clear, if Arizona called, the federal government wasn’t answering the phone.
She said, "DHS remains focused on enhancing public safety and the integrity of our border by prioritizing enforcement resources on those who are in the country unlawfully and committing crimes, those who have repeatedly violated our immigration laws, and those who recently crossed our borders illegally.”
But she’s got it all wrong. It’s Sheriff Joe Arpaio who has been doing exactly that for years and says he will continue to do so. Napolitano never lifted a finger.
As Gov. Brewer aptly observed, Arizona was being told to "Drop dead.”
Over yonder in the Department of Justice, Attorney General Holder reluctantly suspended his search for Fast and Furious documents and set to work to set up a telephone snitchline and e-mail address for illegal immigrants to report potential civil rights violations related to Arizona S.B. 1070’s implementation.
He also was busy "closely monitoring” the impact of S.B. 1070 to ensure "that law enforcement agencies and others do not implement the law in a manner that has the purpose or effect of discriminating against the Latino or any other community.”
"As the Court itself recognized,” Holder said, "Section 2b is not a license to engage in racial profiling and I want to assure communities around this country that the Department of Justice will continue to vigorously enforce federal prohibitions against racial and ethnic discrimination,” Holder said, implying Arizona’s cops were racists.
At this point, the only thing the president and his pals didn’t do was roll tanks into Poland.
If only. If only the attorney general and Homeland Security Secretary could have acted so swiftly and efficiently when Gov. Brewer asked for help over these many years to secure her borders and prevent escalating violence, but that is not the way this administration rolls.
Instead U.S. citizens were ignored in favor of illegal immigrants, a sovereign state was attacked full on with everything this administration could muster, Arizona law enforcement officers were essentially accused of racial profiling in the performance of their duties, but thankfully, through all this, no illegal immigrants were injured or insulted or made to feel uncomfortable in the process.
"I guess I shouldn’t be surprised…From the beginning, they have downplayed the border situation that Arizona faces on a daily basis in regard to security,” Gov. Brewer said. "They have certainly ignored our pleas for them to do the job.”
In the end all the much-anticipated Supreme Court ruling did was to create a Catch 22 scenario and put Arizona back in the exact same position it was in 2010 when S.B. 1070 was signed into law.
Immigration was the federal government’s pervue, the high court said, but since this administration was never really interested in the subject to begin with, the president would continue to do what he has been doing all along. Nothing. They will continue to refuse to enforce federal laws, but they will not let Arizona do it either. Back to square one.
To be fair, President Obama and Gov. Brewer never really did see eye to eye. After all she did characterize him in an unflattering light in her book "Scorpions for Breakfast,” or so Obama told her and she did keep bothering him and Secretary Napolitano with requests for help as her state was being terrorized, vandalized and overrun with Mexican illegals. Annoyng.
So I had a thought. Michelle and Barack both feel very comfortable among the Hollywood set. They were both very keen on Sarah Jessica’s fundraising party. They liked the admiration, they liked the attention and picking up $40,000 per plate had to feel good.
Wouldn’t it be a great idea if the co-planners, Sarah Jessica and Anna Wintour could take over out there in Arizona? Neither Gov. Brewer nor Sheriff Arpaio are the Obama’s cup of tea, but these gals are. For one thing, they’re Democrats and they inhabit the same world the Obamas do, not the mind-numbing world of illegals.
Instead of the rumored ambassadorship for Vogue editor Wintour, I think she would be perfect to deal firsthand with the Mexican criminals Sheriff Joe encounters every day. After all, she’s one tough lady. She wears Prada.
And Sarah Jessica Parker and hubbie Matthew Broderick could take over in the Arizona state house for the governor and mosey along Arizona’s borders.
Barack would like that. Michelle would like that. He doesn’t much like Republican governors, but he’d like Sarah and Matthew.
And then Barack could finally put the lid on curbing the illegal immigrants coming from his buddy Calderone’s country and start countin’ them votes.
Now there’s a decision that will work. And it didn’t even have to come from the Supreme Court.
Hold the line, America.