Despite his fellow panelist Brit Hume's assertion that the new Arizona "show me your papers" law will inevitably lead to some civil rights violations, Bill Kristol claimed that it will not violate anyone's civil rights.
KRISTOL: I doubt that it violates the Constitution, if it does, it’s a matter of federal preemption against state law. I don’t think it violates anyone’s civil rights. And I think, look I'm a liberal on immigration. I supported the Bush/McCain proposals in 2006. I took a lot of grief from some of my conservative friends on this.
I have actually read this bill. It is not draconian. It is not going to lead to major civil rights violations. Will a few people get stopped perhaps because some policeman has reasonable suspicion that a person is illegal? Will he be stopped perhaps on the street and asked to provide his driver’s license? Yes. That is the huge horrible civil rights violation that’s going to occur 5 times or 8 times or 13 times in Arizona.
Meanwhile Arizona has almost half a million illegal immigrants. There are huge burdens on the hospitals and crimes being committed near the border and it's not unreasonable for Arizona to do this.
Well Bill, as Scarce already pointed out here, it looks like Arizona law enforcement is already one step ahead of you with making you look ridiculous -- AZ Truck driver forced to show birth certificate claims racial-profiling -- not that it takes much for that to happen. Bill Kristol... wrong about everything as usual.
Think Progress has more on Kristol's hackery here -- Kristol Supports Arizona Immigration Law: ‘I Don’t Think It Violates Anyone’s Civil Rights’.
