Friday, March 03, 2017

"No doubt the limitations imposed by the Tenth Amendment, like so many limitations imposed by the Constitution, are a source of frustration to those who dream of wielding power in unprecedented ways or to unprecedented degrees. But America was not made for those who dream of power. America was made for those with the power to dream."

That was Judge Milton Hirsch finding that Mayor Gimenez violated the 10th Amendment by ordering people slated for deportation to be jailed (because the city was being threatened by President Trump). As always, Judge Hirsch writes a beautiful order.

The conclusion:
The “people” to whom the Tenth Amendment refers include the native-born as well as the naturalized citizen; the native English speaker as well as the speaker for whom English is a second, or third, language; the scion of old Yankee stock as well as the newcomer who took the oath of citizenship yesterday. Miami is not, and has never been, a sanctuary city. But America is, and has always been, a sanctuary country. As I have written elsewhere, “America, perhaps more than any other nation, was made great not by its leaders but by its people: by the refugees who were called to begin life anew; by the pioneers who were called to build a nation; by ‘the homeless, tempest-tossed’ who were called by the light that shone from the ‘lamp beside the golden door’.” State v. Robaina, 20 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 406a (Fla. 11th Cir. Ct. 2013) (quoting Emma Lazarus, “The New Colossus”). Of course we must protect our country from the problems associated with unregulated immigration. We must protect our country from a great many things; but from nothing so much as from the loss of our historic rights and liberties.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Other than politics, what compels a jurist to make such pointless comments as "America is, and always has been, a sanctuary country."

Anonymous said...

ridiculous; the tenth amendment is not supposed to apply to state govt actors as it was designed and intended as a check on federal power. Yet Judge full-of-himself turns it on his head for political reasons. The result he reaches for may indeed be the right one (at least for me) but the way he does this is legal gymnastics that is bound to be summarily reversed in short order.