Breaking news: Federal Government Sues AZ Over SB1070

....OK, OK, that is hardly breaking news - everybody expected a lawsuit was coming as soon as Jan Brewer signed Russell Pearce's anti-immigrant measure into law in late April.

How about this for a title?

Breaking News - Republicans Freak Out Over Federal Lawsuit To Block SB1070

...OK, OK, that's hardly surprising either.  They freak out whenever somebody calls them out on their garbage.

Anyway, on to the main part of the post.

From the Arizona Republic -

The Obama administration filed suit today against Arizona's landmark immigration law, alleging it was unconstitutional and a U.S. District Court judge should keep it from going into effect July 29.

The suit, filed in Phoenix, claims Arizona's new law "will conflict and undermine the federal government's careful balance of immigration enforcement priorities and objectives," and divert resources from the "dangerous aliens who the federal government targets as its top enforcement priority."

{snip}


Gov. Jan Brewer, who is named as a defendant along with the state, called the lawsuit "a terribly bad decision.

"It is wrong that our own federal government is suing the people of Arizona for helping to enforce federal immigration law. As a direct result of failed and inconsistent federal enforcement, Arizona is under attack from violent Mexican drug and immigrant smuggling cartels," Brewer said in a written statement. "Now, Arizona is under attack in federal court from President Obama and his Department of Justice.

Other reactions:

Congressman Harry Mitchell, from a press release -

"I am extremely disappointed that the Obama Administration has decided to file a lawsuit against Arizona to try to overturn our state's new immigration enforcement law, SB 1070. This is the wrong direction to go. I urged President Obama and his administration against doing so because I strongly believe their time, efforts and resources should be focused on securing our border and fixing our broken immigration system. Arizona needs Washington to take action, but a lawsuit is definitely not the kind of action we need.

Attorney General Terry Goddard, from a campaign press release -

"What we need are solutions, not lawsuits. Until we get real solutions, more states will turn to band-aid remedies to address this very important issue," said Attorney General Terry Goddard. "It is disappointing to see the federal government choosing to intervene in a state statute instead of working with Arizona to create sustainable solutions to the illegal immigration issue that our state and country so desperately need."

State Senator Russell Pearce (R-National Alliance) calls the lawsuit an "insult" to Arizonans.

U.S. Senators John McCain and Jon Kyl, from a McCain press release -

“The Obama Administration has not done everything it can do to protect the people of Arizona from the violence and crime illegal immigration brings to our state. Until it does, the federal government should not be suing Arizona on the grounds that immigration enforcement is solely a federal responsibility.”

My take:

The law is bad, the lawsuit is necessary, and any sort of immigration policy that doesn't address the underlying cause of immigration from Mexico to the U.S, the economics, whether it's Russell Pearce's version of "kill 'em all and let God sort 'em out" or some kind of "comprehensive reform" is doomed to fail.

And all of the blathering about "insults" and "attacks" and "secure the border first" won't change that.

BTW - The best quote about this wasn't actually said about this mess. 

In 2007, the late, great Molly Ivin wrote "Conservatives have been mad at the Supreme Court since it decided to desegregate the schools in 1954 and seen fit to blame the federal bench for everything that has happened since then that they don't like."

Look for Brewer, Pearce, and the other nativists suffer from fits of apoplexy if/when a federal judge blocks their police-state law.


The text of the legal filing can be found here, courtesy AZCentral.com