Arizona Republic: “Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s attorneys filed another lawsuit against Maricopa County officials Thursday, alleging that administrators have conflicts of interest that prevent them from choosing attorneys for Arpaio.
See also “Arpaio, Thomas: Don’t settle our lawsuits.”
The Washington Examiner has an editorial that rips a story in the New York Times for its misleading use of FBI crime statistics to argue that Arizona is all wet in passing its immigration law. The NYT story is called “On Border Violence, Truth Pales Compared to Ideas.” The Washington Examiner says:
“Crime in Arizona was down 20 percent in the larger cities, but it was up outside of the major metropolitan areas and in rural counties, 39 percent and 45 percent, respectively. Clearly, FBI data demonstrates that crime is up significantly in the border regions of Arizona.”
For people who want to read the actual laws and legal principles cited by Arizona in defending a lawsuit (Friendly House vs. Whiting) that seeks to overturn Arizona’s it’s in Arizona’s Motion to Dismiss.
The country on the southern border of the United States that jails illegal immigrants and that enforces a tough no illegal entry policy filed a brief in U.S. court in support of overturning Arizona’s immigration law. The following is Arizona Governor Jan Brewer’s June 22, 2010, press release on Mexico’s action:
“I am very disappointed that the national government of our neighbors and friends to the south has chosen to file a brief in federal court that distorts the truth about Arizona and the United States.
“Despite false assertions and factual inaccuracies expressed by the country of Mexico in their recent brief filed in U.S. federal court, Arizona’s immigration enforcement laws are both reasonable and constitutional. They mirror what has been federal law in the United States for many decades, and they have built-in and clear protections for civil rights.
“The United States was formed as a nation of laws, and not of men. Arizonans are some of the most hospitable and generous people in the world, and we welcome visitors to share our incomparable natural beauty. Our cultures and our trade are intertwined, and so must be our respect for the rule of law.
“We refuse to accept that the United States government is unable to protect its citizens against a relentless and daily barrage of narco-terrorist drug and human smugglers. We will enforce, respect, and defend the laws of our land, including our laws that prosecute discrimination. We have taken additional steps to update training for our officers to legally enforce our new laws and to specifically prevent illegal racial profiling.
“I will continue to fight tirelessly to protect the citizens of Arizona, and to defend Arizonans in federal court. I believe that Arizona will ultimately prevail and that our laws will be found constitutional.”
ABA Journal: “The Maricopa County, Ariz., Board of Supervisors is expected Wednesday to approve the hiring of uber-arbitrator Kenneth Feinberg to handle claims brought against the local government by high-level county managers, elected officials, judges and other employees who say they suffered harassment and abuse of power by the sheriff and former county prosecutor.”
“The problem in Maricopa County is perhaps unprecedented in the nation’s history: So many leaders and workers in all three branches of county government say they were harassed and harmed by a sheriff-prosecutor team investigating, suing and criminally charging them in alleged political vendettas that no one is left who would be qualified to handle the claims against their own government. Anyone who ordinarily would decide the claims—judicially, administratively or by legislative action—might have one himself.”