By October 2011, the Obama administration deported the most people in a single year in US history. In 2012, Antonio Scalia, vaunted Right Wing diatribe and long time Supreme Court justice, attacked the administration as weak on enforcing the immigration laws.
June 26, 2012: Antonio Scalia issued his dissent in Arizona v United States. The case focuses on immigration. Under the Constitution, Congress sets uniform immigration policy for all 50 states. The INS then has the task of enforcing these rules in the 50 states. A few years ago, California enacted an immigration law which was less onerous than the Federal rules. The Supreme Court rejected that position. Then Arizona set rules which are more onerous than the Federal rules. Seems to me a no brainer: Let the Federal rules control: let the INS try and do its job. If Arizona needs more resources? Well, so do the rest of us.
Months after the case was submitted and two months after oral argument in the Arizona v United States case, President Obama announced he would instruct the INS—which has a capacity to deport 400,000 persons per year—to focus on deporting criminals and to stop deporting the young. Reaching outside the record before the court, Mr. Scalia, denounced the Obama Administration for supposedly not wanting “to enforce the immigration laws as written.” Mr. Scalia cited to the recent dream act order, which occurred after the case was submitted. It was clear at oral argument, that Mr. Scalia believed this administration is weak on immigration—a standard Republican talking point for years. As they say, talk is cheap.
In fact, the Obama administration has ramped up deportations. In 2011, the INS nearly reached their 400,00 limit by October. http://www.motherjones.com/...
President Obama’s administration is out deporting George W. Bush by a 2 to 1 rate http://www.weeklystandard.com/... http://abcnews.go.com/... One might think Mr. Scalia did not have the benefit of the cited sources. But Mr. Scalia apparently does not read the Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
Someone should inform Mr. Scalia. He just placed into the vaunted record which is the Supreme Court published opinions his complaint that the administration with the most deportations in US history is weak on deportations.
As others have pointed out, Mr. Scalia’s latest rant, his latest act of judicial restraint, shows several very good reasons why he is unfit to sit on our Supreme Court. First, his worldview is delusional. Second, his worldview is so partisan that his opinions no longer comport much with reality. Third, he’s an oath breaker. Judges swear an oath to deal with the cases before them and to remain bi-partisan. Not make up facts for their political buddies and then publish them in court cases.
Mr. Scalia should read Animal Farm and pay special attention to the sheep who chant, “Four legs good, two legs bad.” For all his brilliant pattern recognition skills, Scalia’s judgment seems no better than the judgment of the Animal Farm sheep, mainly differing because Scalia chants “Republican good, Democrat bad” and does so with more complex hyperbole The odds are good that the Supreme Court will be greatly improved the day Scalia leaves it, even if his successor shares Scalia’s political affiliations and worldview bias.