BU Now » US Supreme Court

SCOTUS to review 2007 Arizona law

Dick Taffe — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 21:53:24 +0000

The U.S. Supreme Court will review a 2007 Arizona immigration law that punishes employers who knowingly hire undocumented workers. The Justice Department says the law violates a federal law barring states from imposing penalties on those who employ people not in the country legally. Law Professor Susan Akram, an authority on immigration law, says the case is significant in that it tests whether such local measures can supersede federal immigration policy in regulating the employment of aliens.

“The case reflects the far-reaching consequences of states like Arizona ‘taking matters into their own hands,’ as the petition is jointly filed by private business, public, civil rights and immigration groups that rarely agree on immigration issues.”

Contact Susan Akram, 617-358-3060, smakram@bu.edu

Gun rights apply to local laws

Dick Taffe — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 22:31:36 +0000

The Supreme Court ruled that the Second Amendment right to bear arms is a fundamental right that states cannot abridge. The 5-4 ruling will require a lower court to overturn laws in Chicago and its suburb of Oak Park., Ill., that limited handgun possession. Political science Professor Graham Wilson, author of “Only in America? American Politics in Comparative Perspective,” says the conservative majority of the court tilted away from a historic conservative position that states and cities should be able to adapt policies to local conditions and circumstances.

“Not since 1937 have we seen such conservative judicial activism and it makes complaints about liberal justices ‘making law from the bench’ ring more than a little hollow.”

Contact Graham Wilson, 617-353-2540, gkwilson@bu.edu