2013 阅读4
Raising Arizona
The Wall Street Journal 20120627
On a five to three vote, the Supreme Court knocked out much of Arizona's immigration law Monday—a modest policy victory for the Obama Administration. But on the more important matter of the Constitution, the decision was an 8-0 defeat for the Administration's effort to upset the balance of power between the federal government and the states.
Arizona 亚利桑那州
knocked out 破坏，使无效 to make inoperative or useless
electricity was knocked out by the storm
modest policy 温和（移民）政策
effort 企图
upset 扰乱
不过，在宪法这一更重要的问题上，最高法院却以 8:0 的一致表决使企图打破联邦政府与各州间权利平衡的奥巴马政府完败。
In Arizona v. United States, the majority overturned three of the four contested planks of Arizona's controversial plan to have state and local police enforce federal immigration law. The Constitutional principles that Washington alone has the power to "establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization" and that federal laws pre-empt state laws are noncontroversial. Arizona had attempted to fashion state policies that ran parallel to the existing federal ones.
contest 质疑，反驳
plank 政策准则，政纲要点
naturalization 加入国籍
pre-empt 抢险阻止；捷足先登
fashion 使成形
Justice Anthony Kennedy, joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and the Court's liberals, ruled that the state flew too close to the federal sun. On the overturned provisions—like making it a misdemeanor to apply for a job without citizenship or a visa—the majority held that Congress had deliberately "occupied the field" under pre-emption doctrine, and Arizona had thus intruded on federal prerogatives.
fly too close to the sun 源于希腊神话伊卡洛斯的故事，to become overly ambitious or greedy
provision 条款，规定
misdemeanor 轻罪
deliberate 谨慎的，慎重的
Under the doctrine of preemption, which is based on the Supremacy Clause, federal law preempts state law, even when the laws conflict. Thus, a federal court may require a state to stop certain behavior it believes interferes with, or is in conflict with, federal law.
intrude on 侵犯
prerogative 特权
关于被宣布无效的条款，例如把无公民身份或无签证情况下申请工作定为轻罪的条款，多数票认为国会已经根据“先占原则”慎重地“占领了这个领域”，亚利桑那州因而侵犯了联邦政府的特权。
However, the Justices said that Arizona police will be allowed to verify the legal status of people who come in contact with law enforcement. That's because Congress has always envisioned joint federal-state immigration enforcement and explicitly encourages state officers to share information and cooperate with federal colleagues.
come in contact with law enforcement （某人）招致移民执法机关怀疑从而与之相接触
Two of the three dissenting Justices—Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas—agreed with this Constitutional logic but disagreed about which Arizona rules conflicted with the federal statute. The only major dissent came from Justice Antonin Scalia, who offered an even more robust if idiosyncratic defense of state prerogatives going back to the Alien and Sedition Acts. (Justice Elena Kagan recused herself.)
dissent 不同意
idiosyncratic 特殊的
recuse （因潜在利益冲突或缺乏公正）要求取消（法官或陪审员）的资格
The 8-0 rebuke to President Obama turns on what Justice Samuel Alito describes in his dissent as "an astounding assertion of federal executive power." The White House argued that Arizona's laws conflicted with its enforcement priorities, even if state laws complied with federal statutes to the letter. In effect, the White House claimed that it can nullify any otherwise legitimate state law that it disagrees with.
rebuke 指责，训斥
turn on 取决于
astounding 惊人的
to the letter 严格按照字句
nullify 使无效 INVALIDATE
otherwise 在其他方面，以另外的方式
Some powers do belong exclusively to the federal government, and control of citizenship and the borders is among them. But if Congress wanted to prevent states from using their own resources to check immigration status, it could. It never did so. The Administration was in essence asserting that because it didn't want to carry out Congress's immigration wishes, no state should be allowed to do so either. Every Justice rightly rejected this remarkable claim.
One lesson of this case is that the Roberts Court does not practice the radical activism of liberal myth. Its very careful jurisprudence is aimed at protecting the U.S. federalist system, in which states and the federal government share sovereignty and both possess rights that the other is bound to honor.
We happen to share the Obama Administration's desire for a welcoming, nonpunitive immigration policy, but it can't accomplish that by asserting power it doesn't have. Full marks to the Court for striking the proper Constitutional balance.
