Chuck Schumer and The Senate Democrats (worst Peter, Paul and Mary cover band ever) have laid the groundwork for a vote invalidating Arizona's infamous SB 1070 should the Supreme Court uphold the law this summer.
The bill would hit the floor of the Senate just as the general election is gearing up. While it has almost no chance of passing, the bill would put GOP legislators and Mitt Romney in an incredibly awkward position of having to either support SB 1070 and once-and-for-all no-take-backsies wave goodbye to the increasingly important Hispanic vote, or throw Arizona under the bus and reveal a seismic rift in their party.
Meanwhile, Democrats can put their Fluevogs up and vote to invalidate the bill, securing the Hispanic vote one way or the other, as it's not like anybody doesn't know which party writes these things.
Among the bill's provisions is a mandate that state and local authorities check the immigration status as part of routine law enforcement activities. As naturalization status and immigration law are under the purview of the federal government, the Obama administration sued Arizona over the law, resulting in lower courts striking the offended provisions. Jan Brewer, who has made a gubernatorial career out of putting her pugnacious cart before Arizona's crazy horse, is taking this battle to the Supreme Court. Oral arguments are set to begin Wednesday.
Even if the law is upheld, Schumer argues that the bill intrudes onto the federal government's turf beyond what Congress is comfortable with, calling it an "assault on the domain of the federal government."
Republicans might be able to counter Schumer's feint with a states' rights argument—that's certainly Brewer's tactic—but it's hard to see whom that's going to convince aside from those who already murmur TENTH AMENDMENT in their sleep. SB 1070 calls for severe racial profiling, so even if one believed in states' rights, a serious counter argument could be made that the federal government has an interest in stepping in to secure the equal treatment of citizens by law enforcement.
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Related: Rubio Proposes DREAM Act To Realize Dream Of Mitt Romney Losing
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