Supreme Court upholds portion of SB 1070; Obama takes ball, goes home.

On Monday the Supreme Court handed out two decisions: One, that life sentences without parole for minors was unconstitutional. Two, that the portion of the Arizona immigration law (aka, SB 1070) that allowed officers to check the immigration status of those they arrest for other crimes was Constitutional. The two provisions that added fines and additional illegality for being an illegal immigrant in Arizona and job searching were struck down. This preserved the most controversial portion of the law, which was that the police could essentially demand to "see your papers" if you were arrested, and verify your legality to be in the country.

Naturally, Obama's administration deferred to the authority of the Judicial branch of government when it comes to interpreting the Constitution, and went about the job of administering the nation.

Just kidding. He actually proceeded to pout and kick his feet. He then put out the following official position of the Executive branch:

From the Washington Times:

The Obama administration said Monday it is suspending existing agreements with Arizona police over enforcement of federal immigration laws, and said it has issued a directive telling federal authorities to decline many of the calls reporting illegal immigrants that the Homeland Security Department may get from Arizona police.

Essentially, the immigration strategy here is to "ignore the problem until it goes away". While this strategy is effective for nearly every other problem, I think perhaps immigration may require a slightly more thought out response.

 Jan Brewer is the Governor of Arizona and is, based on the photographic evidence, quite possibly the Wicked Witch of the West.

I'm not saying she definitely is, I'm just saying she may want to avoid large bodies of water.

Needless to say, she was less than pleased to hear about the administration's reaction.

Brewer told Fox News’s Greta Van Susteren on Monday that she was “shocked” and “outraged” to learn of the move.

“This is politics at its best,” she said. “It’s just unconscionable. What they said to Arizona is, ‘Drop dead, Arizona. Drop dead and go away. We’re going to ignore you."

At the end of the day, I consider this a victory. Many people consider this a step towards some barbed wire police state, crying that this will encourage racial profiling and saying how unreasonable it is for the police to check immigration status. The problem is, illegal immigration is a crime, just like driving without a driver's license. When a cop pulls someone over, he demands they show him proof that they are allowed to be driving and that the vehicle is theirs (License and registration, ma'am). How is a green card any different?

Besides, we already allow the police to check on things only tangentially related to the original charge when they arrest someone. For instance, imagine the cop pulls you over for speeding. He then detects the odor of marijuana, so he searches the vehicle. In your trunk he finds a dead hooker and ten pounds of coke, as well as some Ron Paul campaign stickers.

What started out as a routine traffic stop turned into a murder and drug charge, because the police checked up on other possible crimes while he was at it. That's known as "good police work" when it catches murderers, rapists, and drug inhaling libertarians. How is it suddenly evil when we round up illegal immigrants?

Many officers have expressed concerns that they could be vulnerable to lawsuits for racial profiling for enforcing this law. There is a super easy solution to that: Check the immigration status of every single person you arrest.

Bam. No more profiling.