Free Republic

The Most Egregious Performance Ever by a Federal District Judge August 13, 2010 2:29 PM By Ed Whelan Consider the totality of Judge Walker’s conduct in the anti-Prop 8 case: Let’s start with Walker’s initial case-management conference when he determined, to the surprise even of plaintiffs’ lawyer Ted Olson, that the case couldn’t be resolved, one way or the other (as other courts have done in similar cases), as a matter of law but would instead require extensive discovery into supposed factual issues. Let’s continue with Walker’s insane and unworkable inquiry into the subjective motivations of the more than seven...

The federal judge who struck down most of Arizona’s new immigration law last week wasn’t trying to strike a blow for immigrants’ rights...She was making a much more fundamental argument, one that has regularly emerged in America’s long and often ugly history in dealing with noncitizens and other vulnerable minorities. The message was that Arizona cannot have its own immigration or foreign policy. It cannot tell the federal government how to enforce its laws. It is not up to any state to seize the power to upend federal priorities, particularly to wield a blunt enforcement tool that will do harm...