For Immediate Release: November 1, 2010

Contact: Doug Pennington, Press Secretary
(202) 296-6889 x303
pennington@theusconstitution.org

Constitutional Accountability Center Statement On 
Federal Appellate Court Hearing In Historic Arizona Immigration Law Case

CAC Chief Counsel Elizabeth Wydra: “Governor Jan Brewer, Sheriff Joe Arpaio, and other Arizona politicians aren’t fighting with the federal government. They are really fighting with our Nation’s Founders.”

Washington, DC – After the historic legal arguments over Arizona’s controversial immigration law, SB 1070, held today before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, Constitutional Accountability Center released the following statement:

“The court appeared convinced that significant parts of the Arizona immigration law are unconstitutional,” said CAC President Doug Kendall. “As CAC made clear in our brief, the text of the Constitution demands uniform federal rules on immigration and naturalization. Provisions of the Arizona statute, such as the part that makes it a state crime to be present in the United States illegally, are flatly inconsistent with that uniformity.”

CAC Chief Counsel Elizabeth Wydra said, “Governor Jan Brewer, Sheriff Joe Arpaio, and other Arizona politicians aren’t fighting with the federal government. They are really fighting with our Nation’s Founders, including James Madison and Alexander Hamilton, who made it clear in the Constitution that the federal government has exclusive power to make America’s immigration laws.”

Read the brief CAC filed in Arizona v. United States here: http://theusconstitution.org/cases/briefs/us-v-arizona/9th-circuit-amicus-brief-us-v-az

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Constitutional Accountability Center (www.theusconstitution.org) is a think tank, public interest law firm, and action center dedicated to fulfilling the progressive promise of the Constitution’s text and history. CAC also “live blogged” the Court hearing today for Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/doug-kendall/united-states-v-arizona-a_b_7….

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