Good news for immigrants and sanctuary cities

[redbird]

The Supreme Court just ruled, 7-2, that the states cannot be required to enforce federal law. The case in front of them was about sports betting. That AP story quotes Justice Alito's decision, someone from the ACLU, and someone from the Cato Institute:

“The court ruled definitively that the federal government can’t force states to enforce federal law. In the immigration context, this means it can’t require state or local officials to cooperate with federal immigration authorities,” said Ilya Shapiro, a senior fellow in constitutional studies at the libertarian Cato Institute.

(This is FYI, not something that requires action: we can all use some good news, and if you're also being careful about looking at news sites, you might not see it.)

Comments

[tanaqui]

This is excellent news - thanks for posting about it!

[minoanmiss]

Hmmm. This sounds great but I worry this might have unintended consequences... what about enforcement of marriage equality, for instance?

Of course, I'm not anything like a lawyer. There might be something obvious I'm missing, which is why I ask.

[chanter1944]

I had the same concerns! My first thought was enforcement of equal voting rights, especially now that the VRA's been gutted, but the knock-on effects transfer all over. Marriage equality, Rowe v. Wade adherence or gigantic lack thereof, essentially any form of discrimination not explicitly forbidden by the constitution as it now stands... And I could also easily be missing something here; I'm a nerdy commsworker specialist, not an attorney. I won't deny, I'm delighted over the idea of greater safety for immigrants everywhere, but the wider picture's--um. This makes me very wary. Makes RBG and Sotomayor wary too, by the sound of it, so we've at least landed in auspicious company.

[monanotlisa]

Thanks for sharing! :)