As far as I can tell, this has not yet been diaried:
A federal judge on Tuesday night rejected an Arizona sheriff's lawsuit seeking to halt President Barack Obama's plan to spare nearly 5 million people from deportation.
The sheriff is of course, the Joe Arpaio, the octogenerian who is also a birther. More beyond the swirls.
Some relevant points:
(1) The judge, Beryl Howell, pointed out that this is politics and should involve the legislative and the executive branches, not the judicial
(2) A White House spokesman, Eric Schultz, says:
"Judge Howell's decision today confirms what the Department of Justice and scholars throughout the country have been saying all along: the president's executive actions on immigration are lawful," Schultz said. "The Supreme Court and Congress have made clear that federal officials can set priorities in enforcing our immigration laws, and the actions announced by the president are consistent with those taken by administrations of both parties for the last half century."
(3) Nevertheless Arpaio plans to appeal. And there is another case that has been filed in Brownsville, TX.
It is nice to know that the first round on this goes resoundingly to Obama.
In case you don't know about Arpaio, he has treated inmates horribly. He has also scammed monies from the taxpayers in AZ to fund his obsession:
In the year since President Obama released his long-form birth certificate, tax payers are partly-funding Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s investigation into whether or not the president was truly born in the United States.
The Arizona Republic and the Honolulu Star-Advertiser report that two men identifying themselves as Michael Zullo and Brian Mackiewcz arrived at the Hawaii Department of Health on Monday and requested verification of Obama’s birth. They left after a Hawaii deputy attorney provided them information on the legal requirements for obtaining that documentation. Zullo is a volunteer in Arpaio’s inquiry, but Mackiewcz provided a business card identifying him as a public employee who works in the Threats Management Unit of the sheriff’s office.
I always wondered, if people truly thought that Obama was born in Kenya, why they would travel to Honolulu and not to Nairobi? But I guess it's more fun to go to Hawaii.
Happy holidays, everyone!
*
Tired of politics? Need to escape? Try one of my Greek-mythology based novels, either the story of Jocasta: The Mother-Wife of Oedipus or a trilogy about Niobe, or one of the first examples of civil disobedience, Antigone and Creon. Or, if you like mysteries and/or Jane Austen, treat yourself to The Highbury Murders: A Mystery Set in the Village of Jane Austen’s Emma very positively reviewed at the Daily Kos Monday Murder Mystery blog.