ACLU Plans To Challenge AZ Immigration Law In Court

[IndianaGreen]

ACLU is hated by Republicans and conservative Democrats. They must be doing something right, or "Left" in this case!

I used the headline in TPM's front page: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/

Rights groups to challenge Arizona immigration law

AFP
AFP American Edition

Apr 29, 2010 15:25 EDT

Civil rights groups said Thursday they would mount a legal challenge to Arizona's new immigration law, which critics say enshrines racial profiling in the border state.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) and the National Immigration Law Center (NILC) announced the challenge in front of Arizona's state capitol.

MALDEF president Thomas Saenz told a news conference "a vigorous and sophisticated" legal challenge would seek to "prevent this unconstitutional and discriminatory law from ever taking effect."

The law, signed by Republican Governor Jan Brewer last Friday, allows police to question anyone they believe may be an illegal immigrant, even if they are not suspected of committing a crime.

"This law will only make the rampant racial profiling of Latinos that is already going on in Arizona much worse," said Alessandra Soler Meetze, executive director of the ACLU of Arizona.

"If this law were implemented, citizens would effectively have to carry 'their papers' at all times to avoid arrest.

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/news/2010/04/rights_groups_to_challenge_arizona_immigration_law.php?ref=fpa

[panader0]

1. Thank you ACLU

I was wondering when they'd weigh in on this BS.

[IndianaGreen]

2. Meanwhile, in the Beltway...

sound of crickets.

[Forkboy]

3. What a joke of an organization.

[IndianaGreen]

4. Don't tell me you are waiting for Eric Holder to come to the rescue?

Holder is the man that gave a pass to torture memo author John Yoo.

[Jennicut]

6. ACLU's record has not been great lately either.

Freedom of speech or freedom for corporations to do whatever they want. Holder is no hero but lately neither is the ACLU.

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

7. You do recognize that their position was not arrived at from sympathy for corporations?

The ACLU has a philosophy of the Constitution that is pretty close to internally consistent. That is not easy to do.

Historically I would guess that less than half of Supreme Court Justices have had an equally consistent view, from any idealogical perspective.

And a consistent view requires a lot of consistency... even of the inconvenient variety.

The ACLU is not supposed to be in the business of arguing backward from a specific desired result. They analyze issues in the context of a complex framework.

They made that argument knowing full well how it would play among their donors and made it anyway because they did not consider their position optional.

That should inspire trust more than anything.

(And the ACLU was hardly approaching it as a corporate rights issue except insofar as DU, for instance, is a corporation.)

[AwareOne]

5. carry "their papers" at all times

you mean like your drivers license and registration. Trying to make this seem like Nazi Germany is over the top and an insult to the true victims of fascism. I heard a cop on the radio today, a very reasonable sounding guy, who said he pulls over an illegal about twice a week. They have no license of course. The cop takes them to jail, files the paper work, informs the border patrol and then they bond out and are back on the street. Border patrol almost never comes to take them into custody. A cop can pull over a van load of illegals and is powerless to do anything about it and has to let them go because it's "federal jurisdiction". The ACLUs overzealous defense of those who are in this country illegally makes no sense to me, that is why I resigned my membership after being a proud member for over 20 years. I applaud AZ for standing up for it's citizens and I am a liberal Democrat.