Charles Wilson, reporting for the AP, has a story about three Indiana Senators looking to press on with a case abandoned by the Indiana Attorney General. (h/t Indiana Law Blog)
Indiana passed immigration legislation that looked a lot like Arizona’s. Recently, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down that legislation as unconstitutional — the state of Arizona was trying to usurp the prerogatives of the federal government. Prior to that decision, the Indiana Attorney General was fighting the good fight – making its pitch for Indiana’s version of the immigration law. But, when the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision, the writing on the wall was clear, and the Indiana Attorney General declined to keep up a fight that was futile.
Senators Delph, Boots, and Steele apparently want to continue litigating where Attorney General Zoeller has determined further litigation would be wasteful in light of the Supreme Court’s decision. So, they’ve engaged the legal arm of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) – a group about which the Southern Poverty Law Center has a dim view. They’re petitioning the court to intervene and try to defend the parts of the law that the attorney general views as indefensible in the wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling.
This reminds me a bit of the tension you always see when criminal defense lawyers represent clients who want them to advance implausible legal theories. These criminal defendants are very imaginative, but their legal theories are fantastic and frivolous. So, they feel slighted when their legal counsel, more grounded in reality, has to admit to the court that they don’t have a case.
I didn’t support a lot of the provisions inthe law, but the fact that the AG has taken a particular legal position means absolutely nothing to me. I have too often seen Zoeller poltiicize the giving of honest legal opinions. I haven’t studied the issue, but the Senators may well have a point that the law is different than Arizona’s. That’s something that would take a couple hours researching and reviewing the two laws. Don’t have the time for that. But if the Senators can make the case, more power to them.
Actually, what those guys want to do might be illegal. http://www.indypolitics.org/post/30971936093
I will resist my usual reflex to side with anyone SPLC smears as a “hate group.” This isn’t really parallel to Obama and Eric Holder abandoning defense of DOMA; the case against state-by-state immigration reform is powerful.
I take it Delph, Boots, and Steele like a lot of TEA in their daily diet?
Are they paying for this action, or are they sticking J. Hoosier Taxpayer with the bill for this tilt at the windmill?
Does the fact that Delph has failed the Indiana Bar exam a few times bother anyone else? Funny that he thinks that he’s knows more about the law than our AG…Oh, Mike, when are you going to spot stepping in it.
A few weeks ago you were going after Tony Bennet,not your going after your own AG.Is there anyone in the Republican party tat you do like?
I enjoy the delicious irony with Delph’s repeated bar exam failures.
I think Delph failed the bar the first time and passed it the second time. Honestly, while I’m not a fan of Delph in the least, it doesn’t bother me that much. If anything, I suppose that his decision to take the February bar exam, when the General Assembly was in session, could be viewed as evidence of hubris or poor judgment, but failing the bar under those circumstances doesn’t say much about his intelligence. I’ve been practicing law for over a decade (as a litigator), consider myself reasonably intelligent, and obviously I know much more about my particular areas of practice than I did when I graduated from law school. But if I sat for the bar exam today I would have no chance of passing it. I probably could hit it out of the park on torts and evidence, but I would be hopeless on subjects such as criminal law, taxation, corporations, and so on.
I doubt that Mike Delph is an expert on constitutional law. Still, it is possible for a person who is extremely knowledgeable about one legal subject to fail the bar exam without a proper amount of preparation on the unfamiliar subjects.
I agree with this.
I agree as well (including the hubris part). I will add the extra comment that Hillary Clinton failed the New York bar exam after attending Yale Law School. This was a fine indication of her lack of knowledge regarding the law, yes?
There is Micheal Andew Delph in Fishers, IN on the Indiana Roll of Attorneys. The bar admission date is on 10.11.
I really couldn’t care less if Senator Delph passed the bar or not. If he’s an attorney or not an attorney, he’s still a lousy Senator.
While nobody takes the Southern Poverty Law Center seriously, that anti-American, anti-religion group of crackpots has now officially become worthless to Obama’s FBI. That’s saying something.
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/03/26/FBI-Dumps-Southern-Poverty-Law-Center
Uh, no.
http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/investigate/civilrights/hate_crimes/overview (Southern Poverty Law Center still on the website as a partner)
http://truth-out.org/news/item/22773-no-the-fbi-hasnt-ditched-the-southern-poverty-law-center