State Law // Current TV

States seek to copy Arizona immigration law that would allow law enforcement officers to stop people and demand proof of legal immigration status

Arizona's hot-button immigration law is on hold, pending court appeals, but its effects are rippling across the country as state legislatures reconfigured by the November elections begin their new sessions.
The disputed Arizona law would allow law enforcement officers to stop people and demand proof of legal immigration status. In July, a U.S. district judge granted the Obama administration's request for an injunction blocking parts of the trailblazing law, which raised many legal questions, including whether local officials can legally enforce federal immigration law and whether such local enforcement could lead to unconstitutional racial profiling.

That hasn't deterred elected officials elsewhere — legislation closely modeled on Arizona's law has been introduced in at least 15 other states since the beginning of the year. (See box below.) And legislators in other states say they're awaiting clarification from the courts before introducing their own measures.
The issue is simple, they say: Illegal immigrants are breaking the law, taking jobs and services from U.S. citizens and legal residents.
"It's a huge problem," said Republican Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant of Mississippi, where the state Senate last month became the first state legislative chamber to pass a bill modeled on the Arizona measure.
Opponents contend that such measures would unconstitutionally institutionalize racial profiling, leaving anyone who looks or sounds "different" vulnerable to being targeted by police — "just like the way African-Americans were discriminated years before," said Sole Arrellano, an organizer for the Mississippi Immigrants Rights Alliance.
Democratic state Sen. David Jordan, who is black, also said opposition to the bill crossed racial and ethnic lines.
"Those of us who have been in the struggle to see how things were done have to be skeptical of anything targeting African-Americans and Latinos," Jordan said.
TheGrio: Black and brown unite to fight Mississippi immigration bill
En Español: Immigration news and updates from Telemundo
Dividing line for Republicans
While the measures haven't gotten the national attention the Arizona law commanded, they are dividing legislators and immigration activists just as sharply.
Massachusetts police arrested a man last month and accused him of sending a threatening e-mail to Will Snyder, a Republican who introduced an Arizona-style law in the Florida House.
"You better just stop that ridiculous law if you value your and your family's lives, a------," the e-mail said, according to The Miami Herald.
They're also putting high-profile governors on the spot in states with large immigrant populations.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41182588/Arizona's hot-button immigration law is on hold, pending court appeals, but its... more

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Oklahoma Votes to Void All Standing International Treaties, Bans Islamic Law

Is Oklahoma preparing to stockpile nuclear weapons against international strategic... more

EmperorThan
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1 year ago
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2 comments

Oklahoma's SQ744 cuts pork barrel, improves education, OR will eviscerate state agencies

http://www.nosq744.com/... more

JosephJinx
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9 States Back Arizona in U.S. Immigration Suit

Michigan is the lead state backing Arizona in federal court and is joined by Alabama... more

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1 year ago
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3 comments

Ruling: 24 States' Laws Open to Attack

The New York Times reports that after the US Supreme Court ruled that the federal... more

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2 years ago
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Panic Erupts in Wake of New Anti-Immigrant Law

Arizona community activists and religious leaders are trying to mitigate fears over a... more

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Goverment wants to equip GPS devices to tax you Mileage

They want to watch you and charge you money to go anywhere!!!!!

manateeplayer44
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2 years ago
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9 comments

Legalize pot now

With support from the unlikeliest circles, this could be marijuana's moment

JackHerer
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Minnesota Legislature Approves Medical Weed!

"Yesterday, after nearly a decade of debate, the Minnesota House and Senate... more

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Supreme Court Affirms CA Medical Marijuana Law

"Today, the US Supreme Court REFUSED to hear a landmark case brought by San Diego County stemming from a law suit they filled back in ‘06 that challenged the state-mandated use of ID cards for medical marijuana patients. The ID card program was adopted in 2004, resulting from the legislature’s passage of SB 420, the Medical Marijuana Program Act. The ID cards can substitute for Dr. recommendations for the use of cannabis and allow patients to enter medical marijuana shops in California and can be shown to police officers who find patients in possession of marijuana.

Well, San Diego decided not to play along with the ID card game arguing that the federal ban on weed trumps state law. The San Diego Superior Court and the Fourth District Court of Appeals rejected that argument. And, the California Supreme Court refused to review the case in 2008. Despite those failures the San Diego Board of Supervisors voted to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court! And, well that didn’t work out! The end of this case and the Obama administration’s decision not to raid law-abiding medical marijuana clubs has supercharged the legalization movement now.

s-pot-large1“The courts have made clear that federal law does not preempt California’s medical marijuana law and that local officials must comply with that law,” said Joe Elford, chief counsel with Americans for Safe Access (ASA), a national medical marijuana advocacy group with a large presence in California. “No longer will local officials be able to hide behind federal law and resist upholding California’s medical marijuana law.”

“The Supreme Court and the lower courts in California have blown away the myth that federal law somehow prevents states from legalizing medical marijuana,” said Rob Kampia, executive director for the Marijuana Policy Project.

ASA has also notified ten weed-unfriendly holdout counties (Colusa, Madera, Mariposa, Modoc, Mono, San Bernardino, San Diego, Solano, Stanislaus, and Sutter) of their legal obligation to implement the ID card program. Change is coming whether they like it or not."Today, the US Supreme Court REFUSED to hear a landmark case brought by San Diego... more

DeliaTheArtist
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`Zion curtains' come down in Utah restaurants

The Associated Press files this story about how partitions in restaurants, usually... more

kinolina
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California cops to DEA: Help us undermine state law

"Perusing material submitted by the DEA in response to a query from House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, marijuana reform activist Dale Gieringer catches the the California Police Chiefs Association actively subverting state law. The documents received by Conyers, who is looking into the DEA's raids on medical marijuana dispensaries, include an October 2006 letter in which Steve Krull, the association's president, urges DEA Administrator Karen Tandy to "become more actively involved in working with local law enforcement to close these [medical marijuana] distribution centers, seize their profits and all marijuana which might be located and to take these cases into the federal judicial system." Krull suggests that "a concentrated effort sustained over a period of time would send a strong message to local and county government that 'medical marijuana' is not allowed and that those who profit from the sales and distribution of marijuana under the guise of 'medicine' will face the consequences."

Under California law, of course, marijuana is allowed for qualifying patients and is considered a medicine. That's why Krull complains to Tandy about the "dangers and frustrations that law enforcement has experienced in California with trying to enforce marijuana laws." He reports, with apparent amazement, that "some situations have reached the point where state judicial officers (local judges) are ordering our members to return marijuana which has been lawfully seized"—i.e., instructing police to give back the medicine that patients are permitted to have under state law. Evidently Krull and many of his colleagues find obeying state law to be an intolerable nuisance, one they want the feds to help them avoid. The DEA has been happy to oblige, conducting 130 enforcement actions and making 365 arrests related to medical marijuana from 2004 through July 2008. Gieringer, coordinator of California NORML, notes that a state appeals court ruled last year that "it is not the job of the local police to enforce the federal drug laws." Both the California Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court have declined to hear an appeal of that decision.""Perusing material submitted by the DEA in response to a query from House... more

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National Geographic Explorer: Marijuana Nation

Reporting from secret farms and not-so-secret grow houses of marijuana cultivators,... more

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No Attorney, No Justice, No S**t!

THIS IS REALLY HAPPENING RIGHT NOW, THERE IS REAL SUFFERING THAT A LOT OF PEOPLE CAN RELATE TO...

What happens when children suffer because of jealousy, greed and misuse of the law?
After being in Florida for the past 10 months, my daughter took her two children back to Texas to see their biological father and his family, for a visit... He planned all of this after she filed for child support. He bought 3 round-trip plane tickets and promised to help her with school clothes, her truck payment and bills, so she didn't have to worry about missing a few days of work. She was already so stressed out from working 10 hrs/night, 5 nights/week, that she was having difficulty handling her job, so she agreed to go, for the kids.She was so confident that everything was in place to protect her, Florida residency, filing for child support, having a home and a full-time child care provider... no worries.
But, on Tuesday, August 12, when they landed at the Midland International Airport, authorities met her and took the children, and gave them to their estranged father, and left her stranded there, crying, with an unjustified court order, and 3 return trip plane tickets to Florida.

The local crisis center put her up overnight. In the morning she went back to the safe house where she'd gone 10 months earler. She had left with police protection, went to the safe house, then received police escort to her home for the children's clothes before leaving the state.

Under the "Uniform Child-Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act" accepted by both Texas and Florida, Texas has no jurisdiction over Florida residents. The non-custodial parent must go to Florida to file. Even though Midland generated an EMERGENCY order to take the children because they were "in danger of leaving the state" or "at risk of being harmed...?" (NOT THE CASE) which is how the father was able to get the court order. Procedures are required to take the children, even under EXTREME circumstances. This was a blatant misuse of the law and the emergency order, and my grandchildren and their mommy are suffering greatly.

Two little boys, ages 2 & 5, have not seen or talked to their mommy in over a week. They have been kidnapped by someone they hardly know, and kept there by the court, even though it is not in their best interest. They can’t speak for themselves, I'm sure if they could, they’d say "I want my mommy!" When he left, the 5 year old said "Nanna, I will call you every day!" I haven't received a single call.

It's not an easy thing for a mother with two small children to go to social services to feed them. Now the father has bought a $244,000 house, taken the children, and told her he has a 'home' for them, and she doesn't; she doesn't have a chance in court, she might as well go back to Florida.

The rules and laws in place governing child custody, emergency orders, jurisdiction and enforcement, are being ignored by Midland County Court. My daughter a victim of long-time abuse by the father of the children, and the legal system, in disallowing her rights to custody of her children, has put her and her children at risk. The children are residents of Florida, they are happy, healthy and cared for by their mother. They are never alone. They are never hungry, They are never lonely, and they are never abused. They are more loved than they have ever been in their lives.

* The Midland Family Court had no jurisdiction to issue the order
* The Midland Family Court had no 'just cause' to issue the order
* The mother and children left through the police department and safe house
* Legal Aid does not have the resources to assist the family
* The father has a history of prescription drugs for ADD, he abuses the prescriptions (ADDERALL XR - 20MG Caps -3/day for ADD) which makes him irrational and short tempered when he takes too many or is going through withdrawals)

Please consider doing a story on this injustice in Texas.
(863)551-3156 Deborah
THIS IS REALLY HAPPENING RIGHT NOW, THERE IS REAL SUFFERING THAT A LOT OF PEOPLE CAN... more

redstar2777
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Federal court rules that federal government can't subvert state medical marijuana laws

SAN JOSE, CA (ACLU) — In a first-of-its-kind ruling, a federal court today held that the U.S. Constitution bars deliberate subversion by the federal government of state medical marijuana laws.

“Utilizing selective arrests and prosecutions, the federal government has sought to sabotage California’s reasoned approach to medical marijuana use,” said Graham Boyd, Director of the ACLU Drug Law Reform Project. “For the first time, a court has recognized that a calculated plan by the federal government to undercut state medical marijuana laws is patently unconstitutional. Today’s decision forecasts an end to any organized federal effort to sabotage state medical marijuana laws.”

While previous high-profile cases affirmed the federal government’s power to enforce federal drug laws against individual medical marijuana patients and providers on a case-by-case basis, today’s ruling clearly recognizes that a calculated pattern of federal enforcement can render state medical marijuana laws effectively inoperable, which would violate the Tenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

“It is obvious to anyone paying attention that federal officials have gone to great lengths to sabotage state efforts to allow for appropriate medical marijuana use,” said Boyd. “The court made clear that this deliberate interference - once proved - would be unequivocally unconstitutional.”

The case, County of Santa Cruz v. Mukasey, originated in 2003 when Bingham McCutchen LLP and the Drug Policy Alliance, along with private attorneys Gerald F. Uelmen and Benjamin Rice, sued the federal government for raiding a Santa Cruz-area medical marijuana cooperative, the Wo/Men’s Alliance for Medical Marijuana.

The ACLU and others argued, and the court agreed, that the U.S. Constitution permits states to determine for themselves what is legal and what is illegal under state law, and that the federal government may not deliberately undermine this process.

“The federal government has purposely set out to systematically subvert California’s medical marijuana program,” said Daniel Abrahamson, director of legal affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance. “Let us hope that this ruling leads to the merciful end of the federal government’s cruel war on sick and dying medical marijuana patients.”

In today’s ruling, which rejected the federal government’s motion to dismiss the case, Judge Jeremy Fogel of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, San Jose Division, relied on U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Chief Judge Alex Kozinski’s opinion in Conant v. Walters, which stated, in part, “Applied to our situation, this means that, much as the federal government may prefer that California keep medical marijuana illegal, it cannot force the state to do so.”

In addition to U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey, the lawsuit names as defendants U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents involved in the raid of WAMM, and administrators of the DEA and Office of National Drug Control Policy.

The court’s ruling is available online at: www.aclu.org/drugpolicy/medmarijuana/36494lgl20080820.htmlSAN JOSE, CA (ACLU) — In a first-of-its-kind ruling, a federal court today held... more

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State, US pot laws clash in Calif. case

Lawyers for a California man charged with dealing pot say they're struggling to... more

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Court Backs Bush on Military Detentions

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Legitimacy of pot tax revenue remains hazy

California's potential $16 billion budget shortfall has led state officials to an... more

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Evolution Battling Intelligent Design in Florida Schools

The next intelligent design showdown will take place in Florida, where opposition is... more

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