White House, DOJ Not Denying Clinton's Statement That AZ Lawsuit On The Way

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's disclosure that the Department of Justice will be filing a suit against Arizona's tough new immigration law is not being denied by either the White House or the Department of Justice itself.

In what appeared to be an unscripted admission, Clinton told Ecuadoran television on Thursday that DoJ, under the direction of the president, "will be bringing a lawsuit against" the Arizona act, which has been sharply criticized in Latin America.

The statement, first reported by the site Right Scoop, was the first overt declaration on the Justice Department's course of action. In late April, President Obama first announced his support for an investigation into Arizona's law, which would grant local law enforcement officials broader powers to detain suspected illegal immigrants. Since then, there have been hearings involving Attorney General Eric Holder but little in the way of explicit action.

Asked about Clinton's remarks, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs urged the Huffington Post to send queries to the DoJ. The department's spokesman, Matt Miller, replied with the following: "The department continues to review the law."

The non-denials are not, of course, confirmations of Clinton's statement. But it's hard to imagine that the Secretary of State is operating off of a different script than the rest of the administration. A suit, of course, would ramp up the debate over immigration reform, suggesting that the White House believes that either the law represents an egregious legal overreach or just smart politics.

Comments

[bighappy]

10:50 PM on 06/29/2010

Good for AZ. I am planning my next vacation there. Also working to have my state pass the same law.

[spytheweb]

08:19 AM on 06/23/2010

Any arguments the DOJ makes against this law, illegals can challenge the federal law on the same arguments and tie up and delay federal deportations. The federal government will be shooting themselves in the foot.

[FerrellGummitt]

11:28 AM on 06/21/2010

You would think, judging by his passion, that Arizona had done something really dreadful, like sinking a shipload of sailors or attempting to build a nuclear bomb with the stated purpose of annihilating a neighboring state. But those aren’t the kinds of things that tick off this president. However, let a state decide to take a federal law seriously and try to enforce it, and watch him blow his stack.

[zest]

11:13 AM on 06/21/2010

Hope the Supremes eventually have to hear this case; that should be a court defining ruling.

[spytheweb]

08:21 AM on 06/23/2010

The SC is leaning right, besides to shoot this law down will be shooting the federal law down.

[zest]

11:09 AM on 06/21/2010

Oh goody; the South dies again.

[bob1567]

08:58 AM on 06/21/2010

I am delighted that Clinton made this announcement.

Republicans ought to send her a thank you card.

[WorkhelpWorkhelp]

01:26 AM on 06/21/2010

Is Hillary going to be the next POTUS?

[Bill Grimes-Wyatt]

04:09 PM on 06/20/2010

THAD believes or attempts to convince us that he believes 1) oppossion to illegal entry makes one anti-immigration. 2) it is possible to be born in this country, attend school in this country and not understand English. 3)The Arizona law is aimed at Mexicans who are 4) brown skinned 5) those who oppose illegal entrants into this country support their employers.
I opposse illegal entry and support English speaking immigrates who have an education or skill that is needed or would be useful to us. I was pleased to read that two restaurants in Maryland were raided for employing 32 illegals. The race of the workers was not noted. One of the employers lost almost $750,000.00. They each face 10 years in prison.
By the way, I understand that the law is not directed towards Mexicans. President Fox of Mexico was white.

[UT85]

03:04 PM on 06/20/2010

Hillary grew weary of Americans irrational, biased and greedy thinking, so she reverted her rational to a more rational group of people. We all know SB1070 is unconstitutional, but continue to sugar code it to our liking and that is irrational and retarded by all means.

[ugly american]

11:26 AM on 06/20/2010

So she makes this announcement about an important domestic matter that has seroius threads in foriegn policy in South America?
That says loads about how she feels about American soveriegnity. Are we now supposed to tailor our laws and policies to favor other nations any way we can because of our important position in the world?

[bettany23]

08:43 PM on 06/25/2010

Simply put, Hillary Clinton is Tommy tucker singing for her supper. The Obama administration and Democratic Party is sold out to latino Advocate groups for votes. Mexicans come to America for their so-call Miraged American Dream, Politicians get influence,power, and wealth they ship have in. We the American public is still waiting for ours, when is our ship going to come in? How about NEVER what we get is an enormous tax bill. that is our bounty from their profit and gain.

[sandy2814]

11:36 PM on 07/02/2010

Bush sank your ship Obama is trying to build it again

[Randy Shepherd]

04:12 AM on 06/20/2010

so obama can use doj to go after AZ, but not DADT?

[bob1567]

08:55 AM on 06/21/2010

excellent point

[Chairman Dow]

08:28 PM on 06/19/2010

Go Arizona!

Go far, far away from the sane people.

[RonRutherford]

02:08 PM on 06/19/2010

Chances of Hillary announcing this herself for political gain? Near 100% I'd say. I truly wonder if Obama even knew she was going to announce it or not.

www.therationalreport.com

[Le Facteur 99]

02:13 PM on 06/19/2010

Of course he did. The signals from the WH were a go a couple of weeks ago. HRC announces it informally takes some of the heat off Holder, who has been criticized since he appeared in Cong

[rgg211]

02:35 PM on 06/19/2010

I wouldn't be surprise if Hillary went off message (according to reports, for what they're worth, since she become Sec of State she's tended to go off message fairly often). But I tend to think you're right that something this big she probably wouldn't have let out without permission. But I don't really see the political upside for Obama on doing it this way. Maybe you're right about Holder, though I think the heat it took off him was negligible. Moreover, I'd think it would have been obvious beforehand that announcing the suit in another country would immediately lead to the criticisms that Brewer and others have levied arguing that AZ and Americans should have been told first. (I think Brewer is just whining, but on some level I can see her point.) Why would the White House want this additional headache when filing a controversial lawsuit?

Anyway, I guess it doesn't really matter - in a few days the suit itself will be the story and everyone will forget how it was announced.

[Randy Shepherd]

01:42 AM on 06/20/2010

my guess is that Obama didn't want news clips with those words comming from his mouth, so he distance himself by having Hillary leak it

[FarOutFish]

01:09 PM on 06/19/2010

Why was it necessary for Ms. Clinton to make this statement in a foreign country, ten days ago, when the Obama Justice department was maintaining they were still studying the possibility of suing Arizona?It looks like the decision had already been made and the administration was lieing when it said it was still under study.

[nccanuck]

08:55 AM on 06/21/2010

It's the way things seem to roll in Washington of late.

[Le Facteur 99]

12:11 PM on 06/19/2010

Friendly House, et al., v. Michael B. Whiting, et al., in the United States District Court for the District of Arizona, Case No. CV 10-1061-PHX-JWS.