U.S. v. Arizona Amicus Brief Filed

One of President Obama’s first actions upon taking office was to order his Department of Justice to sue the State of Arizona. Arizona was accused of following existing Federal immigration law. Sounds absurd, doesn’t it? It sounds absurd because it is absurd, but those are the facts of U.S. v. Arizona.

Unfortunately there’s even more to be upset about in U.S. v. Arizona. If this were a simple disagreement between a state and the federal government about who and how immigration law is to be enforced, it would be interesting, but not shocking. However, in U.S. v. Arizona the Obama administration actively violated existing Federal law (and continues to do so today). Federal law, passed by Congress before Obama took Office, prohibits any government agency from limiting access to INS information about the immigration status of any person. Yet the lawsuit filed by the Obama administration asked the Arizona Federal Court to do exactly what Federal law specifically said that no government agency can do.

But wait, it gets better: A liberal Federal Judge granted the Obama administration an injunction against Arizona. The Judge’s order ALSO violated clear Federal law. The law that Obama pointed to in support of his case, and that the Judge cited in her order, is literally the same Federal code section that states that no governmental agency can do what the Court did.

Here is the Federal code at issue in this case, quoting directly from 8 U.S.C. §1373, subsections (a) & (b).:

“Notwithstanding any other provision of Federal, State, or local law, a Federal, State, or local government entity or official may not prohibit, or in any way restrict, any government entity or official from sending to, or receiving from, the Immigration and Naturalization Service information regarding the citizenship or immigration status, lawful or unlawful, of any individual…no person or agency may prohibit, or in any way restrict, a Federal, State, or local government entity from doing any of the following with respect to information regarding the immigration status, lawful or unlawful, of any individual: (1) …requesting or receiving such information from, the Immigration and Naturalization Service”

Now for the truly outrageous irony, both the Arizona Court and the Obama administration cite subsection (c) of the same law and claim that it allows them to prohibit Arizona from requiring Arizona police from requesting “information regarding the citizenship or immigration status” of individuals in police custody. Subsection (c) simply requires the INS to respond to any such requests. You see, the Arizona Court and Obama both reason that because subsection (c) requires the INS to respond, if Arizona police make too many requests, then the INS will be too busy to “pursue other priorities,” as determined by Obama.

To summarize the argument: Because Federal law requires us to do this, if you make us do it we won’t be able to not do it. And that argument won the day.

This argument essentially asks the Judicial branch to validate the Executive branch’s decision to ignore the Legislative branch’s mandate. Do you see the danger to our entire form of government?

So, earlier this month Liberty Legal Foundation filed an Amicus Brief with the U.S. Supreme Court. Our brief is short, by design. Our goal was to make two simple points: 1) The Obama administration and the Arizona Federal Court have violated Federal law. 2) If the Supreme Court allows this to stand, Obama will have replaced our three-branch system of government with an Executive dictator.

As far as we are aware, ours is the only brief to make these simple, obvious yet essential points. This Amicus Brief, and all the other work we do at Liberty Legal Foundation would not be possible without your support. If you agree with us that the Executive branch must follow laws passed by the Legislative branch, please support our work. Please continue to spread the word about what Liberty Legal Foundation is doing to restore our Constitution.

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When I called the Supreme Court Clerk’s office to confirm filing of our U.S. v. Arizona Amicus Brief I was able to speak to one of the clerks responsible for reviewing briefs before they’re filed. I got the impression that she had been with the court for many years. Without any prompting she told me that she was impressed with our argument. I was surprised, and then very pleased at the comment. Clerks rarely read the substance of briefs filed, and when they do they almost never tell you their opinion about the substance of your filing. Such a decisive comment coming from that source was very surprising and encouraging. Apparently there are people In D.C. that can understand a simple argument and are tired of the government ignoring its own laws.

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