Opinion Forum

The Text of U. S. v. State of Arizona Has Been Published

April 12th, 2011

Ever the foolish optimist, I noted in a comment to this Tatler article that before getting all feverish about the 9th Circuit decision on the Arizona immigration laws it would be a good idea to wait for the text.

The text of the 9th Circuit decision in United States v. State of Arizona has been published and is available on the internet. It is eighty-seven (single spaced) pages in length and thus far I have merely skimmed it.

Toward the end of the decision (at pages 49 – 87), there is a blistering partial concurrence but mainly dissent by Judge Bea. He quotes Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland twice on how words can mean whatever their masters wish and notes that

The majority misreads the meaning of the relevant federal statutes to ignore what is plain in the statutes—Congress intended state and local police officers to participate in the enforcement of federal immigration law. Sections 2 and 6 do not conflict with this intent, and thus are constitutional.

Judge Bea also takes umbrage at the majority’s elevation of complaints from foreign governments over the intent of congress.

Perhaps tomorrow or the next day I will read the full decision with greater care and submit something for publication.

(This article was also posted at The PJ Tatler.)

Articles written by Dan Miller
Tags: 9th Circuit, appeal, Arizona, illegal, immigration, Law, U.S.
Categories: Law, News, Politics | Comments (1) | Home

One Response to “The Text of U. S. v. State of Arizona Has Been Published”

Tom Carter | April 13th, 2011 at 2:44 am

Well, now that two of the couple of dozen lords of San Francisco have spoken, I suppose the people of Arizona should be expected to bow down and change their ways. Somehow, I don’t think that will happen. Maybe the case will get an en banc review, but that would still be quite a few less than a majority of the 9th Circuit judges. More likely, it seems, the case will go on to the Supreme Court. I hope it does, and soon.

The real issue here is the federal government’s continuing failure to adequately control the border. Politicians who are to blame should pay the price in every election until they start doing their jobs.