cal04
cal04's JournalPresident Obama ‘Pleased’ But ‘Concerned’ With Arizona Immigration Ruling
President Obama said he is “pleased” but “concerned” after the Supreme Court invalidated some parts of SB 1070, Arizona’s controversial immigration law that his Justice Department challenged.
“I am pleased that the Supreme Court has struck down key provisions of Arizona’s immigration law,” President Obama said in a statement. “What this decision makes unmistakably clear is that Congress must act on comprehensive immigration reform. A patchwork of state laws is not a solution to our broken immigration system – it’s part of the problem.”
But Obama said he is “concerned” about the key provision in the law that the court didn’t address in Monday’s ruling, requiring local law enforcement to check the immigration status of suspected undocumented immigrants.
“Going forward, we must ensure that Arizona law enforcement officials do not enforce this law in a manner that undermines the civil rights of Americans, as the Court’s decision recognizes,” Obama said.
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entries/obama-pleased-yet-concerned-with-az-immigration-law
Statement by the President on the Supreme Court’s Ruling on Arizona v. the United States
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/06/25/statement-president-supreme-court-s-ruling-arizona-v-united-states
I am pleased that the Supreme Court has struck down key provisions of Arizona's immigration law. What this decision makes unmistakably clear is that Congress must act on comprehensive immigration reform. A patchwork of state laws is not a solution to our broken immigration system – it’s part of the problem.
At the same time, I remain concerned about the practical impact of the remaining provision of the Arizona law that requires local law enforcement officials to check the immigration status of anyone they even suspect to be here illegally. I agree with the Court that individuals cannot be detained solely to verify their immigration status. No American should ever live under a cloud of suspicion just because of what they look like. Going forward, we must ensure that Arizona law enforcement officials do not enforce this law in a manner that undermines the civil rights of Americans, as the Court’s decision recognizes. Furthermore, we will continue to enforce our immigration laws by focusing on our most important priorities like border security and criminals who endanger our communities, and not, for example, students who earn their education – which is why the Department of Homeland Security announced earlier this month that it will lift the shadow of deportation from young people who were brought to the United States as children through no fault of their own.
I will work with anyone in Congress who’s willing to make progress on comprehensive immigration reform that addresses our economic needs and security needs, and upholds our tradition as a nation of laws and a nation of immigrants. And in the meantime, we will continue to use every federal resource to protect the safety and civil rights of all Americans, and treat all our people with dignity and respect. We can solve these challenges not in spite of our most cherished values – but because of them. What makes us American is not a question of what we look like or what our names are. What makes us American is our shared belief in the enduring promise of this country – and our shared responsibility to leave it more generous and more hopeful than we found it.
Justice Breyer: Montana Case Shows Citizens United Was Wrong
The Supreme Court sided with a conservative group on Monday to invalidate a Montana law restricting corporate spending on elections that had been on the books for 100 years, saying it clearly conflicted with their ruling in Citizens United.
But in a dissent, Justice Stephen Breyer argued that Montana’s history of corruption is a sign of what’s to come thanks to the Supreme Court’s determination that bans on corporate election spending violate free speech.
Montana’s law had been upheld by the state Supreme Court after being challenged by a conservative group, American Tradition Partnership. But in a 5-4 ruling, the Supreme Court summarily reversed the lower court’s decision and invalidated the longstanding legislation.
(snip)
“Even if I were to accept Citizens United, this Court’s legal conclusion should not bar the Montana Supreme Court’s finding, made on the record before it, that independent expenditures by corporations did in fact lead to corruption or the appearance of corruption in Montana,” Breyer wrote. “Given the history and political landscape in Montana, that court concluded that the State had a compelling interest in limiting independent expenditures by corporations.”
http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/06/dissent-justice-breyer-montana-case-shows-citizens-united-was-wrong.php?ref=fpa
CREW Statement on Reversal of Montana Supreme Court
Source: CREW
(snip)
This Supreme Court’s decision today is a tremendous blow to the hope that individual states could rein in the corrupting influence of money and politics in our elections. The Montana Supreme Court case reversed today – a direct challenge to the disastrous Citizens United decision – was cheered by CREW and other campaign finance reform advocates fighting to clean up our elections. Montana had it right and the U.S. Supreme Court got it wrong.
Today’s decision is overtly political and will contribute to the declining public perception of the Supreme Court. Those justices appointed by Republican presidents appear intent on ruling every chance they get in a way that will assist Republican candidates.
To the detriment of voters, Citizens United will stand and unlimited secret spending will continue to influence our elections. The Court’s decision sanctions the current status quo whereby voters in the 2012 elections – perhaps one of the most critical elections in a generation – will be severely hindered in their ability to make informed decisions on Election Day.
Unless the current makeup of the Supreme Court changes anytime soon, the only recourse citizens have short of a constitutional amendment is to continue to push Congress to enact tougher campaign spending disclosure laws. As CREW has noted before, even that seems unlikely anytime soon given the current crop in Congress.
Read more: http://www.citizensforethics.org/press/entry/crew-statement-reversal-montana-supreme-court-decision
High court strikes down key parts of Arizona immigration law(victory for Pres.)
The Supreme Court on Monday struck down key parts of the tough anti-illegal immigration law enacted by Arizona in 2010.
The law had made it a crime for non-citizens who are unlawfully present in the United States to work in Arizona and requires police officers to check the immigration status of any person whom they have probable cause to believe is an illegal immigrant.
The decision was a victory for President Obama who had criticized the law, saying it “threatened to undermine basic notions of fairness that we cherish as Americans.” The Justice Department moved quickly in 2010 to block enforcement of the law.
(snip)
But justices say that one part of the law, requiring police to check the status of someone they suspect is not in the United States legally, could go forward. Even there, though, the justices said the provision could be subject to additional legal challenges.
http://nbcpolitics.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/06/25/12398271-high-court-strikes-down-key-parts-of-arizona-immigration-law?lite
Supreme Court strikes down key parts of Arizona's immigration law, voting 5-3 in favor of federal government
(snip)
"Arizona may have understandable frustrations with the problems caused by illegal immigration while that process continues, but the state may not puruse policies that undermined federal law," the majority opinion said.
The majority concluded the federal government had the power to block SB1070, though the court upheld one of the most controversial parts of the bill -- a provision that lets police check a person's immigration status while enforcing other laws if "reasonable suspicion" exists that the person is in the United States illegally.
The Obama administration had argued immigration matters were strictly a federal function.
http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/25/politics/scotus-arizona-law/index.html
Supreme Court Overturns Key Parts Of Arizona Immigration Law
(snip)
Joining Justice Kennedy in the majority were John Roberts, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor. Justice Elena Kagan, who worked on the issue as Obama’s solicitor general, did not participate in the case.
(snip)
The decision is a blow for Republican Gov. Jan Brewer and serves as a warning shot to other state legislatures supportive of similar measures. One one hand it could help Republicans energize conservatives, who are strongly supportive of the law. On the other hand, the decision could help Democrats galvanize Hispanics, who would be disproportionately targeted by the law and broadly oppose it.
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/06/supreme-court-overturns-key-parts-arizona-immigration-law-sb1070-jan-brewer-elena-kagan-barack-obama.php
Supreme Court Rejects Challenge To ‘Show Me Your Papers,’ Strikes Down Part Of Arizona Immigration
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/06/25/505593/breaking-supreme-court-upholds-show-me-your-papers-strikes-down-part-of-arizona-immigration-law/
(snip)
Two significant points about the decision is that the Court voted 8-0 to reject this particular challenge to the show me your papers provision, with Kagan recused. The majority opinion also leaves open the possibility that a future challenge to this provision could succeed, including a claim that the law leads to unconstitutional racial profiling
(snip)
Georgetown Law professor David Cole said on CNN moments ago, “this is almost a total victory for the Obama administration.”
Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (R) is also claiming victory. “Today’s decision by the U.S. Supreme Court is a victory for the rule of law,” she said in a statement.
GOP Oversight Chair Admits There Is No Evidence Of White House Involvement In Fast And Furious
GOP Oversight Chair Admits There Is No Evidence Of White House Involvement In Fast And Furious
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/06/24/505180/gop-oversight-chair-admits-there-is-no-evidence-of-white-house-involvement-in-fast-and-furious/
Last week, Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) claimed that the White House decision to invoke executive privilege to prevent the release of some documents related to the “Fast and Furious” investigation indicated some sort of admission of a White House cover-up. Today, pressed by Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace, House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) admitted that there is absolutely no evidence to back up Boehner’s allegation:
WALLACE: Do you have any evidence that White House officials were involved in these decisions, that they knowingly misled Congress, and are involved in a cover-up?
ISSA: No, we don’t. And what we are seeking are documents that we know to exist, February 4 to December [2011] that are in fact about [murdered Border Patrol agent] Brian Terry’s murder, who knew, and why people were lying about it…
WALLACE: I want to be clear, because we’ve got to get out, no evidence that the White House is involved in the cover up?
Watch the video:
Chris Hayes Has Arrived With ‘Up’
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/24/fashion/chris-hayes-has-arrived-with-up.html?smid=tw-share&pagewanted=allAROUND 11 p.m. on a Friday this past spring, Ted Leo, a singer and songwriter considered something of a legend in New York punk and indie-rock, opened a raucous late set at the Black Cat club in Washington with a curious greeting to his followers.
“I know how hard it is to be here,” he joked to a crowd of about 750, a Gibson hollow-body drooping from his shoulder, “because you all have to be up at 8 a.m. tomorrow to watch ‘Up With Chris Hayes.’ ”
(snip)
While MSNBC’s overall ratings dipped in May along with those of other news channels, Mr. Hayes’s program was one of the few to surge, rising about 15 percent in total viewers over MSNBC’s programming in the time slot from the previous year. Since Dec. 26, it has been No. 1 on average in its Sunday time slot on cable news channels among viewers ages 18 to 34, according to Nielsen figures provided by the network. Despite much of the country being in bed when it is on, “Up” has occasionally flirted with the ratings of prime-time programs like “The Rachel Maddow Show” (hosted by Mr. Hayes’s mentor) among those 18-to-34 viewers.
(snip)
His influence goes beyond ratings. Rolling Stone listed him in a recent Hot issue. On Esquire’s Web site, Charles P. Pierce called him “the fastest rising star in your cable teevee firmament.”
more at link
New super PAC ad hits Romney over Bain
The super PAC supporting President Barack Obama's reelection released a new television advertisement on Saturday featuring a man who uses stark terms to describe Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's role in his own unemployment.
"Mitt Romney made over a hundred million dollars by shutting down our plant, and devastated our lives," the employee, Mike Earnest, says in the Priorities USA Action ad. "Turns out that when we built that stage, it was like building my own coffin. And it just made me sick."
That stage, he says in the video, was built by him and other employees of American Pad and Paper, a company which Romney's private equity firm Bain Capital purchased and later went into bankruptcy.
"A group of people walked out on that stage, and told us that the plant is now closed, and all of you are fired," Earnest said.
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/06/23/new-super-pac-ad-hits-romney-over-bain/
thanks to handmade34 the video is up, here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/101736405
The Wild Conspiracy Theory Driving The Fast And Furious Investigation
http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2012/06/22/504557/the-wild-conspiracy-theory-driving-the-fast-and-furious-investigation/Here is theory that some Congressional Republicans believe: The Obama Administration intentionally handed over automatic weapons to Mexican drug cartels, who they knew would commit violent acts, because they wanted to scare Americans into supporting stricter gun laws.
(snip)
Holder is caught up in a scandal over what happened during Operation Fast and Furious, one in a series of efforts started under former President Bush, in which firearms owned by the U.S. government are intentionally sold to criminals with the hopes that they can be traced back, and criminal activity can be monitored. One such firearm turned up at the crime scene where border patrol agent Brian Terry was killed.
(snip)
The man who started the conspiracy theory also rallied people to break congressional windows. Mike Vanderboegh, a man who once called for militias to break the windows of members of Congress because of the passage of the Affordable Care Act, started this conspiracy theory. Rachel Maddow uncovered that Vanderboegh has been encouraging members of Congress to embrace the theory.
Major Republicans, including Darrell Issa, endorse this conspiracy theory. Among those are Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), who is Chair of the House Oversight Committee and is heading up the investigation of Eric Holder. In an interview on FOX, Issa said, “very clearly, they made a crisis, and they’re using this crisis to somehow take away or limit people’s Second Amendment rights.” He also pushed the theory at an NRA convention. But Issa isn’t the only one who is buying in: former Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich just two days ago agreed with the theory. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ), and many other Republicans have voiced support for this theory too.
more at link
David Axelrod: Mitt Romney Running To Be 'Outsourcer-In-Chief'
President Barack Obama's reelection campaign seized on a Washington Post report that highlights Bain Capital's investment in companies that outsourced jobs under Mitt Romney's leadership. The article published on Thursday has stimulated a potent new angle to stories attacking the presumptive Republican presidential candidate's record at Bain.
The Obama campaign, which has already attacked Romney on the issue of outsourcing, branded the former Massachusetts governor as a potential "Outsourcer-in-Chief" in a conference call with reporters on Friday.
"Nothing in [Romney's] background suggests that he would be the advocate for workers and American jobs," said Obama campaign strategist David Axelrod. "Nor does it suggest that he would in fact stand up to China or any other country on behalf of American workers."
"It's particularly egregious coming on a day when Gov. Romney began running an ad in Ohio promising to stand up to China -- demanding a level playing field for our businesses and workers -- when it turns out that his companies were actively involved in shipping jobs to China and India."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/22/david-axelrod-mitt-romney-outsourcer-in-chief_n_1619307.html
Battleground state Latinos reject Mitt Romney
By Kos
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/06/22/1102268/-Battleground-state-Latinos-reject-Mitt-Romney
Or, put another way, Latinos like President Barack Obama much, much more. And they're liking him better now that he's quit deporting their kids. (Florida trendline is from January.)
While we don't have trendlines from the non-Florida states, we do know that Latino enthusiasm has significantly spiked in the wake of Obama's DREAM decisions.
New Poll: Obama leads Romney among Latinos in key 2012 battleground states
http://www.latinodecisions.com/blog/2012/06/22/new-poll-obama-leads-romney-among-latinos-in-key-2012-battleground-states/
The survey also asked Latinos how enthusiastic they were about voting in the 2012 election, following similar questions that were asked in our November 2011 benchmark survey with Univision. In November 2011, 47% of Latinos were “very enthusiastic” about voting in the Presidential election. Today, 60% of Latino voters report they are very enthusiastic about voting in the November 2012 election and an additional 23% are somewhat enthusiastic. When asked to compare their interest and enthusiasm levels in the 2008 and 2012 election, more people now tell us they more enthusiastic about voting in 2012 than 2008, a shift from our previous polling.
As I've noted before, Romney and his Republicans are digging themselves into a deep hole in key battlegrounds by losing Latinos by such dramatic numbers. And no amount of cheesy web videos will change that dynamic. Particularly not when Latinos see this in the news:
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