Thread: Arizona Governor Fires Back at ACLU Lawsuit

Arizona Governor Fires Back at ACLU Lawsuit
June 19, 2010 - 12:40 PM | by: Lee Ross

The legal showdown over Arizona's controversial new immigration law continued late Friday with the state's governor saying she's prepared to defend the measure for as long as necessary against attacks from groups who contend the law is unjust.

"I will ensure the immigration laws we passed are vigorously defended all the way to the United States Supreme Court if necessary, where this reasonable law will ultimately be found constitutional," Gov. Jan Brewer, R-Ariz., said in a statement Friday.

Brewer accompanied her tough talk with a 40 page filing in federal court seeking to dismiss a lawsuit filed by various groups including the ACLU. The governor's lawyers argue the lawsuit should be tossed because the groups behind it don't have sufficient legal justification to challenge the law in court. In other words, they can't claim harm caused by a law that's yet to go into effect.

"Plaintiffs lack standing because they have not alleged, and cannot allege, the requisite real and immediate threat of harm from enforcement of the "Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act...Instead, plaintiffs speculate about potential future harm that is too attenuated, as a matter of law, to establish a cognizable case or controversy."

The lawsuit stems from the ACLU's belief that the law infringes on federal oversight of immigration matters and that the state's law enforcement officers will engage in racial profiling to make arrests. Brewer's filing says there is no dispute the law can be constitutionally enforced "and, at this stage, the Court must presume that Arizona's law enforcement officers will do so."

Lawyers from the Phoenix-based Snell & Wilmer law firm made the filing on behalf of Brewer and the state. It does not address a separate ACLU filing asking a federal judge to stop the Arizona law from taking effect on July 29.

http://liveshots.blogs.foxnews.com/2010 ... u-lawsuit/

Related:
http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-203351.html