HOUSTON CHRONICLE (Dunham Post) by Richard Dunham: The Supreme Court's conservative bloc divided in two this morning, allowing President Obama to score a legal victory in the closely watched Arizona immigration case.
Justice Anthony Kennedy, a nominee of President Reagan, wrote the 5-3 majority opinion that struck down several key provisions of the Arizona immigration law, known as SB 1070. Those provisions designated it a state crime to seek work without a work permit, fail to carry immigration registration documents or allow the arrest an individual suspected of committing a crime that could lead to deportation from the United States.
Kennedy was joined by President George W. Bush's choice for Chief Justice, John Roberts, as well as Democratic selections Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor.
Justice Elena Kagan, who worked on the case during her time as President Obamas Solicitor General, did not take part in the decision.
The three most conservative justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented. An impassioned Scalia read extensive excerpts from his dissenting opinion in the court chamber this morning, saying that the logic of the court majority boggles the mind.
"Arizona has moved to protect its sovereignty not in contradiction of federal law, but in complete compliance with it," Scalia wrote. "The laws under challenge here do not extend or revise federal immigration restrictions, but merely enforce those restrictions more effectively. If securing its territory in this fashion is not within the power of Arizona, we should cease referring to it as a sovereign state."
The court did not strike down the state's right to permit police to routinely check the immigration status of people stopped for other reasons.
However, today's ruling left open the possibility that this provision could be reviewed later if it is enforced in a discriminatory manner.
Arizona's Republican governor, Jan Brewer, said that the decision which did not strike down the police enforcement provision upholds the heart of SB1070. She promised that Arizona law enforcement would careful guard the civil rights of suspected illegal immigrants. The governor added that police officers who crossed the line into racially profiling would be punished.
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