'Your papers, please' must never be heard in America
Arizona Republicans declared victory Monday after the Supreme Court upheld the key provision of the state's immigration law requiring police to check the status of suspected illegal immigrants during a lawful stop.
The Supreme Court hears arguments Wednesday over Arizona's immigration-crackdown law, but Democrats are already preparing for a potential loss by saying they'll try to pass legislation stripping states of the power to enact their own immigration rules.
Two battle-scarred veterans of Arizona's often vicious wars over immigration and the border are drawing fresh fire as they prepare for what may be their last campaign together.
Just months after falling victim to a recall effort, the author of Arizona's immigration crackdown is weighing whether to jump back into another legislative race.
The same Arizona group that took down the state's leading immigration hard-liner is now gunning for its best-known lawman.
Last week's recall election defeat of the Republican legislator who wrote Arizona's tough anti-immigration law and the election of Democratic mayors in Phoenix and Tucson have given Democrats renewed hope for picking up the state in next year's Senate and presidential elections.
Tuesday's off-year elections revealed a truth well known in sports that also applies to politics: The side that's more energized wins. In Virginia, an energized Republican Party apparently gained a tie in the Senate, giving the GOP control of all three branches - governor, House and Senate - for the first time since Reconstruction. A recount could reverse it, but right now, Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling's Senate vote would be the 20-20 tie breaker. This was no small feat, given the gerrymandering by the last Democratic majority.
Foes of Arizona Senate President Russell Pearce declared a new day in Arizona on Wednesday as they celebrated the recall defeat of the nationally known immigration hawk who was the primary architect of the state's tough anti-illegal-immigrants law.
A Mississippi initiative stating that life begins at conception, known as the "personhood" amendment, was handed an unexpected defeat in Tuesday's off-year election balloting.
House Speaker John A. Boehner says his relationship with one-time golf partner President Obama has grown "a little frosty."
The author of Arizona's landmark immigration law is facing a recall election that's as wild and unpredictable as the state's southern border.
He's an Arizona state senator who probably wouldn't be recognized on the street outside of Mesa, yet the recall election of Russell Pearce is poised to become the biggest race of the 2011 cycle.
The Fiesta Bowl has asked 31 Arizona politicians who received free trips or game tickets to explain how they benefited the tax-exempt group, and it said it may ask them to repay the costs if the expenditures can't be justified.
Republican lawmakers want to widen Arizona's illegal immigration crackdown with a proposal to require hospitals to check on whether patients are in the country legally, causing outrage among medical professionals who fear becoming de facto immigration agents under the law.
Arizona took a public-relations punch to the gut after passing the nation's toughest anti-illegal-immigration law earlier this year, but anyone who thinks (or hopes) the state Legislature will lower its profile on the border-security issue in 2011 likely will be disappointed.
"I'm not asking for roundups, I'm not asking for anything but paying attention and doing your job," he said. "It's not that we want people in jail. We want compliance."
The law's author, former state Sen. Russell Pearce, said he does not expect sweeping changes in the way local police will conduct themselves once the requirement kicks in.
