Arizona Immigration laws

This has been an eventful week in law on a number of fronts. The Arizona immigration case, Arizona v. United States, limited states to doing brief immigration status checks on people arrested for some other reason. http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/11pdf/11-182.pdf. Last year the Supreme Court upheld an Arizona law in Chamber of Commerce of the United States v. Whiting that sanctioned employers for intentionally or knowingly employing illegal aliens by suspending or revoking their licenses. http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/10pdf/09-115.pdf. The law also required employers to use e-verify. The Arizona law for employer compliance was not preempted by federal law. This is not just an American reaction to immigration nor is it new. The same protectionist sentiment could be found today in Europe and Asia. It was also quite prevalent into the 1850s in the United States. In fact it was A major force in the splintering and end of the Whig party at that time. Now China is also cracking down on illegal immigration. http://abcnews.go.com/International/t/story/china-law-targets-foreigners-working-illegally-16684735

s/ Kurt Koehler
308 1/2 S. State Street Suite 36
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48198
(Washtenaw County)

Supreme Court Admission

On June 4 I was in Washington and took the oath to join the bar of the United States Supreme Court.  I went with the annual Phi Alpha Delta Day at the Supreme Court.  There were a couple of other groups there as well for the same purpose.  We got to eat breakfast and wait for the court hearing in the Rehnquist dining room.  The court issued two opinions during the hearing with Justice Thomas giving the opinion summary for Reichele v. Howards and Justice Breyer giving the summary for the opinion in Armour v. City of Indianapolis.  After the opinions were read they had each of us stand in turn after our names were read as part of the motion for admission made by Tom Bentz, a PAD attorney in Washington.  The entire group was then administered the oath by the court clerk Gen. Sutter.  Afterwards we returned to the dining room for a while and then left for pictures outside.  We had a group lunch at B. Smith's in Union station.

http://www.pad.org/upcoming-events/pad-day-at-the-supreme-court/

s/ Kurt Koehler
308 1/2 S. State Street Suite 36
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48198
(Washtenaw County)