Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer loves the legal spotlight. After her anti-immigrant law, SB 1070, was passed last year she went from zero to hero in the minds of tea partiers around the country. That her law is unconstitutional and that the federal courts have halted it from going into effect has only boosted her standing with the hard right.
Last week, Brewer filed a countersuit against the Obama administration charging that it has failed to secure the southwest border against illegal immigration. Obama has deported more people than any other president over a two-year period. There are also more Immigration and Custums Enforcement agents and border patrol than at any time in our history.
Brewer’s own attorney general acknowledges that the law is against them, and similar lawsuits have been dismissed in the past. In fact, the last time there was a Democrat in the presidency, Arizona filed a similar lawsuit back in the 1990s, and it was dismissed.
If, by some bizarre chance, Brewer were to win, and you could sue a public official if you wanted a law enforced fully, could Arizonans sue Brewer because people speed on Arizona state highways or because there are domestic violence incidents in the state?
Brewer’s legal action isn’t a lawsuit; it’s a press release. It isn’t designed to stop illegal immigration. It was only filed to give her a little of Joe Arpaio’s press coverage.
