Professor Geoffrey Hoffman of the University of Houston Law Center says that SB 1070 is Orwellian and Kafkaesque : "SB 1070 itself requires racial or ethnic profiling but the law also (very cleverly) expressly prohibits civil rights violations"

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For the Professor SB 1070 is a Civil Rights Nightmare and can be challenged again for Civil Rights Violations, even if the Supreme Court upholds it.

Jurist Organization

SB 1070 and the Impending Police State

Although racial and ethnic profiling arguments were not addressed last week in Arizona v. United States, SB 1070 has significant civil rights implications for those of Latino descent...
May 3, 2012

By Professor Geoffrey Hoffman of the University of Houston Law Center


SB 1070 and the Impending Police State


Some excerpts :

Is it premature to call a place a "police state" where authorities are given authority to detain a person until their immigration status is verified, without regard to the length of the detention? Will a tipping point be reached if the US Supreme Court validates all (or even a portion) of Arizona's SB 1070? The law requires among other things that local law enforcement determine status where a "reasonable suspicion" exists that the person is an undocumented alien.

The so-called "papers, please" law is an apt title because the law will require any person who is "lawfully" stopped, detained or arrested to prove his status, including a fortiorari his US citizenship. When he does not or cannot, then the person can be held for as long as it takes for the state to get confirmation from the federal government and return with a definitive answer — provided such information even exists in federal databases.

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The issue of racial or ethnic profiling did not even come up in oral argument, as Chief Justice John Roberts made clear right off the bat in his opening questioning. But racial or ethnic profiling is actually required by this law. What must the law enforcement authorities do if they are to determine whether they have "reasonable suspicion" someone is in the US illegally? Well, it cannot be just the failure to produce a certificate of citizenship, since most Americans have never even heard of one. It cannot be the failure to produce a passport, since almost no one travels with their passport on their person (if they even own one). So, what type of suspicion will be imposed?

The only answer is that law enforcement will now have to determine, after a "lawful" stop which people "look," "act," "speak" or "seem" to be "American."

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