A12 From Page One arizona from A1


port Arizona’s efforts,” 20 House Republicans said in a letter to At- torney General Eric H. Holder Jr., who administration officials said decided last week to challenge the law. President Obama, who had voiced strong opposition to the legislation, was briefed in the past few days, officials said. The administration disavowed


any political calculus, with one senior Justice Department offi- cial saying: “We’re charged not with doing what’s popular or par- tisan or political, but doing what we think is right.” But other Democrats suggested


that the legal fight could play to their advantage by placing them on the side of Hispanics, the na- tion’s fastest-growing minority. Though most polls show the Ari- zona law is broadly popular, lead- ing Hispanic groups and politi- cians have condemned it. “There is probably some short- term pain politically,” said one


S


KLMNO


senior Democratic strategist, who spoke on the condition of ano- nymity because he did not want to publicly contradict the admin- istration. “But considering the demographic changes the coun- try is undergoing, long term there is a lot of upside in advocating for Latinos and comprehensive im- migration reform.”


Criticism on civil rights Civil rights groups call Ari-


zona’s statute the nation’s tough- est law against illegal immigrants and say it targets Hispanics, though the legislation says police “may not consider race, color or national origin” in seeking to de- termine immigration status. At least five other lawsuits have


been filed in federal court — by civil rights groups and others — challenging the law, which is scheduled to take effect July 29. Hearings are set for July 15 and July 22 in those cases, and Justice Department officials said they ex- pect a hearing around the same


time on their motion asking a judge to issue a preliminary in- junction blocking the law. Justice officials cited two other


examples of the federal govern- ment suing a state, including a 2007 lawsuit by the Bush admin- istration challenging an Illinois law that tried to prevent employ- ers from using an online system to determine immigration status. But legal experts said such a step is exceedingly rare. “It’s quite extraordinary,” said Richard D. Friedman, a law pro- fessor at the University of Michi- gan. Typically, he said, the gov- ernment files briefs or seeks to in- tervene in lawsuits filed by others against state statutes. In their 25-page complaint,


Justice lawyers cite the legal doc- trine of “preemption,” which is based on the Constitution’s su- premacy clause and says federal law trumps state statutes. Be- cause the federal government has “preeminent authority to regu- late immigration matters,” the


lawsuit argues, the Arizona law must be struck down.


A practical argument Beyond the legal prose, the


government tries to make a prac- tical argument: that the Arizona law would unduly burden federal agencies charged with immigra- tion enforcement. With Arizona referring so many illegal immi- grants for deportation, the law- suit says, federal officials would lose focus on top-priority targets such as immigrants involved in terrorism or other crimes. The suit also claims that the


law would burden local law en- forcement officials, three of whom provided declarations in support of the challenge. “To re- quire local police to act as immi- gration agents . . . is not realistic,” wrote Tucson Police Chief Rober- to Villaseñor.


Although the lawsuit cites po- tential “detention and harass- ment” of U.S. citizens and im- migrants who do not carry identi-


fication documents, it declines to make a legal argument that the law would lead to racial profiling. But a senior Justice Department official, speaking on the condi- tion of anonymity, said that if the law takes effect, “we will monitor it very, very closely, and if we be- come aware of any racial profil- ing or civil rights violations, that’s something that we would take action on.’’ Peter Spiro, a Temple Univer-


sity law professor and an expert on preemption, said that the gov- ernment makes “a strong argu- ment” but that the case “could go either way.” Although the pre- emption doctrine has been estab- lished in Supreme Court deci- sions, he said, “there is precedent on both sides of the question.” Brewer called the lawsuit “nothing more than a massive waste of taxpayer funds,” a senti- ment also expressed by other Re- publicans. “The American people must wonder whether the Obama administration is really commit-


WEDNESDAY, JULY 7, 2010 From both sides of debate, heated reaction to Arizona lawsuit


on washingtonpost.com/ discussions


Immigration showdown in Arizona: Joseph M. “Joe” Arpaio, sheriff of Maricopa County, Ariz., discusses the federal, local, legal and political battles over the Arizona immigration law at 2 p.m.


ted to securing the border when it sues a state that is simply trying to protect its people by enforcing immigration law,” John McCain and Jon Kyl, Arizona’s senators, said in a statement. Liberal groups were equally


fervent. “We commend the Oba- ma administration for taking this critical step to negate Arizona’s unconstitutional usurpation of federal authority and its invita- tion to racial profiling,” said Lu- cas Guttentag, head of the ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project. markonj@washpost.com shearm@washpost.com


Staff researcher Julie Tate contributed to this report.


Winds and waves hinder oil


cleanup Officials from BP


and government meet to plan next step


by David A. Fahrenthold THE SHAPE OF


LITTORAL DOMINANCE HAS A FAMILIAR LOOK.


Lockheed Martin’s LCS teamhas delivered a low-risk solution to one of the U.S. Navy’s highest global security priorities: dominance in coastal waters. A conventional steel hull that can be affordably built and maintained anywhere. A combat system common with Navy surface combatants. Easy access to ports. Interoperability, flexibility and survivability. Lockheed Martin’s LCS: A warship built on proven performance.


lmlcsteam.com


High seas in the Gulf of Mexico were still hampering efforts to contain the leaking BP well and skim oil off the water’s surface Tuesday, as the federal govern- ment’s point man on the spill met with BP executives to plot the next move. The area around the leaking wellhead, nearly 50 miles off the Louisiana coast, was buffeted by 20-knot winds and waves more than five feet high Tuesday. Those conditions were too rough for most of the “skimmer” boats as- signed to the gulf, said Thad W. Allen, who has retired as a Coast Guard admiral but has stayed on as the national incident com- mander for the spill. In addition, Allen said in an af- ternoon news briefing, the waves were delaying efforts to hook up a third siphon from the leaking well to a ship on the surface. A ship called the Helix Pro- ducer has arrived at the site, with the capacity to increase the roughly 25,000 barrels a day (1.1 million gallons) being siphoned from the well to more than 53,000 barrels (2.2 million gal- lons). But connecting it to the si- phon requires workers to de- scend to a platform just above the water’s surface; if the waves are too high, the platform might be dangerously unsteady. A National Weather Service forecast said waves are expected to remain this high until at least Thursday.


Allen spoke from BP’s U.S. headquarters in Houston, where he was meeting with the oil com- pany’s leaders about what may be the next step to contain the leak- ing well. That would entail removing


the current containment cap, which fits over a stub of pipe leading out of the well’s blowout preventer on the seafloor. This cap leaks on purpose: If oil doesn’t seep out, officials fear that seawater will leak in and cre- ate slush-like “hydrates” that will gum up the system. Allen said the next step is to re- place that cap with a tighter- fitting one that would allow no oil to escape. But the process could take seven to 10 days, he said, during which oil would leak from the pipe stub. Now, he said, offi- cials will debate when — and whether — to do it. He said that if the Helix Producer brings up enough oil, it may not be neces- sary to replace the cap. “The question is,” Allen said, “do we want to wait and look at the product” that comes up after the Helix Producer is connected? In addition, Allen said that tar balls found along the Texas coast this week did not appear very weathered, making it unlikely that they had floated from the leaking well. Instead, he said, of- ficials believe that they may have been accidentally carried to Texas by vessels working on the clean- up.


fahrenthold@washpost.com


Printed using recycled fiber.


NF407 1x.75


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52