Liberal Ninth Circuit Refuses to Disband Separate Race-Based
Liberal Ninth Circuit Refuses to Disband Separate Race-Based DUI Courts
Posted by Rachel Alexander
July 16, 2009 at 6:32 pm
In a cowardly decision issued Wednesday, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals sidestepped deciding the constitutionality of Maricopa County Superior Court’s separate Spanish-speaking and Native American DUI Courts. Instead, the court dismissed the case, saying that plaintiff Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas – whose non-Spanish speaking prosecutors must appear in Spanish-speaking court listening to a translator on headphones – didn’t have standing to challenge it.
The court wrote in its opinion that since Thomas’s interest in the court was professional, not personal, he didn’t have standing to sue. This is a circular argument, because how could Thomas’s interest have been “personal?â€
