One the same day an undocumented immigrant, a DREAMer, made history by speaking at the Democratic National Convention, The ACLU has lost a big battle against 'Show Me Your Papers' in Arizona. But not yet the entire war.
Today U.S. federal district court judge Susan Bolton denied a request made by the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona and partner organizations to block SB1070's controversial Section 2(b), effectively paving the way for enforcement of the controversial "show me your papers provision" in a matter of days.
That's right. It's no longer just a line from a 1940's movie, and there are no letters of transit.
However the Supreme Court, while permitting the law to take effect, has said that another front can be opened against it:
In her ruling, Bolton said the court will not ignore the clear direction from the Supreme Court that the provision "cannot be challenged further on its face before the law takes effect." ((But)) She reiterated the high court's interpretation that the law might be able to be challenged as unconstitutional on other grounds.
Those other grounds are likely racial profiling (the Federal challenge before the Supreme Court was whether the law was an attempt to supercede Federal supremacy in immigration matters). The ACLU says it is committed to
act on the court's message and document racial profiling abuses throughout the state ((due to the new law))
Arizona claims that its police have "been trained on how to implement SB1070" but we all know how that will go. Exactly the same way that "Stop & Frisk" goes in New York City -- with massive racial bias and police
abusing their powers day in and day out. Exactly the same way the the Oakland Police conform to their crowd control policy -- violating it every time there is a large protest. In other words, exactly the same way the police respect the civil rights of "troublemakers" all over the country -- by trampling them.
No, this will not end well.