WASHINGTON, D.C. – Many of the proponents of Arizona's notorious SB 1070, including Governor Jan Brewer, have attempted to spin today's 5-3 Supreme Court decision striking down three provisions and leaving a fourth with high obstacles in front of implementation, as a victory for the purveyors of such legislation. In response, MALDEF President and General Counsel Thomas A. Saenz issued the following statement:
“Every schoolchild knows that a report card showing three ‘F's and one ‘Incomplete', together with plenty of negative commentary and dire future warnings from your teachers, is not remotely a victory or occasion for boasting or pride of any kind. Yet, having received just such a report card in the Supreme Court's decision today, some of SB 1070's proponents have been hoping that their desperate media spin will somehow obscure the ugly truth. Every Arizonan should be outraged at the costs imposed on the state by irresponsible lawmakers and their unscrupulous advisers — millions in likely legal fees, tens or hundreds of millions in lost business, and incalculable damage to the state's reputation just as it commemorates its centennial year. Voters and residents of Arizona and other states where these intolerant and nativist laws have been proposed or enacted should reject this ‘snake-oil' legislation and all those who seek to foist it upon them.”
For MALDEF's earlier statement reacting to the Supreme Court decision, visit:
https://www.maldef.org/2012/06/maldef-responds-to-supreme-court-decision-in-arizona-case/