Do you agree with E.J. Dionne that Justice Antonin Scalia should resign?

[Laelth]

24. Perhaps.

And perhaps that's unseemly for a Judge. But, he had already lost the argument, so who cares?

Besides which, his dissent makes it clear that he's talking about the majority opinion giving "the executive" the power to thwart the will of Congress by refusing to allow the states to enforce Federal law. Think about that for a moment. What happens when a Republican is "the executive"? Do you want that person to have complete control over immigration law and to take away from the states the power to enforce the will of Congress? Except where Congress expresses its explicit desire to give the Federal government complete control over an area of the law, the states also have the right to enforce Federal law. In its 1986 immigration law, Congress did not explicitly reserve to the Federal government the right to enforce immigration law. Thus, Scalia argues, Arizona ought to be allowed to enforce Federal law if and when "the executive" chooses not to.

It's a completely rational argument, and Scalia is right to note that the SCOTUS' recent ruling on this subject is unprecedented and, to put it mildly, odd.

-Laelth