SB1070 Update: Police damned if they do, damned if they don’t

by David Safier

More lawyers are chiming in on SB1070. Wanna bet they've read the bill, like the Accidental Guv wants them to? And even though she says anyone who reads the bill will realize how benign it is, how it just "mirrors federal law," the lawyers still think it's pretty toxic stuff.

So much for that "Just read the bill" meme. Like so many Republican "simple statements of truth," it's as wrong as can be.

A group of immigration lawyers commented on the law:

They warned that, without accompanying immigration reform to make the rules more practical and practicable, enforcement of SB-1070 could triple the number of cases almost overnight, with no additional court staffing or funds to accommodate them.

Kara Hartzler said, on top of immigration cases, expect to see law suits bursting out all over, accusing police of being too aggressive enforcing the bill, and not aggressive enough.

If police officers are too aggressive about detaining people who lack proof of citizenship, as they would be authorized to do, it's inevitable that they would end up arresting and holding a number of U.S. citizens, which Hartzler said is bound to generate wrongful-arrest lawsuits.

If they are too careful about whom they detain, she said, police could open themselves up to lawsuits claiming they failed to adequately enforce the new law.

More court costs. Deeper court backups. More police officers and departments being sued.

Just read the bill, Jan. It's complicated stuff, so after you read it, you'd better sit down with some legal scholars and learn about some of the obvious problems Russell Pearce and your coterie of sycophants won't tell you about.