In Arizona dissent, Scalia blasts Obama’s deportation stay, immigration policies http://m.yahoo.com/w/legobpengine/news/blogs/ticket/arizona-dissent-scalia-blasts-obama-deportation-stay-immigration-185431255.html?orig_host_hdr=news.yahoo.com&.intl=US&.lang=en-US
The federal government “does not want to enforce the immigration laws as written, and leaves the States’ borders unprotected against immigrants whom those laws would exclude,” Scalia alleged. Arizona’s entire immigration law should be upheld, Scalia wrote, because it is “entitled” to make its own immigration policy. At one point, he cites the fact that before the Civil War, Southern states could exclude free blacks from their borders to support the idea that states should be able to set their own immigration policies. The majority of the justices, including Chief Justice John Roberts, ruled that most of Arizona’s law is unconstitutional, save for the provision that allows police officers to ask about immigration status during stops.
Noting what could be done to black folks previous to the Civil War doesn’t seem really strong argument, IMHO.