Supreme Court tosses challenge to Calif. tuition law
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected a challenge to a California law that allows illegal immigrants to pay in-state college tuition rates, a decision that gave a boost to supporters of a similar law approved this year in Maryland.
California’s 2001 law, which grants in-state college rates to students who attended a California high school for three years and graduate, was challenged by a conservative immigration group that argued the provision conflicted with federal law. The Supreme Court declined to hear the case and did not comment on that decision.
A California court had previously upheld the law.
The law is similar to one signed in May by Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley. Opponents of Maryland’s law are attempting to gather 56,000 signatures to suspend its provisions and put it on the ballot so that voters can decide its fate next year. Illinois, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, Washington and Wisconsin have comparable tuition laws.
Opponents said last week they had cleared an early hurdle in the petition drive, securing more than the 18,500 signatures initially needed to keep the effort alive. Del. Patrick L. McDonough, has said he expects opponents will also file a lawsuit to stop the law. McDonough, a Baltimore County Republican, was not immediately available for comment.
Those in favor of the law cheered the court’s decision.
The state law "is absolutely lawful under federal law and the California decision is just one more in a litany of court finding making that declaration," said Kim Propeack with the immigration advocacy group CASA de Maryland.
The decision “is good news for supporters of in state tuition,” said Wendy Sefsaf , a spokeswoman with the Washington-based Immigration Policy Center. “It's also good news for those who believe these young students who were brought to the U.S. at a young age and educated in our schools should be able to finish their educations so they can be more productive and contributing citizens.”
Del. Neil C. Parrot, a Washington County Republican, said he agrees with the Supreme Court decision not to hear the case because, he said, federal courts should not weigh in on what is essentially a state issue. He said he does not believe the case will have any significant impact on his effort to overturn the law in Maryland.
"We're confident that the people of Maryland are not going to support this bill," he said.
Comments
What on earth are people thinking today? Is this a upside-inside out world? Since when does any country reward people who either overstay their visas of cross illegally?
For decades now America, the land of plenty and the home of the free left its doors wide open for millions of people from all over the world to come to and enjoy the American way of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. America has now paid a very high price for not enforcing it’s immigration policies and for not providing adequate border security around the country. We have seen over the past 20 years plus a rise in the population of illegal aliens to some say could be 20 million plus, and the ever increasing demands on our social services that create huge deficits in our state & local budgets. You don’t have to be a math wizard to figure out we must stop this spending on people who in reality should not be here in the first place.
It is not a right or left issue that can be characterized by political parties; it is a humanitarian issue and must be addressed. We have millions of illegal aliens in our country and the local, state & federal agencies refuse to do anything about it that will resolve the problem. Our elected officials must have the spine to stand up to the “One World” – “Open Borders” crowd and say enough is enough, we are going to enforce the laws we have and if you are here illegally you need to return back to your home country. The economy here in the USA is in the toilet, and we as Americans need to take care of Americans first, then we can again help the world, but if we cannot help our own people in these hard times we cannot help others around the world in their times of need.
We must stop thinking that because a person thinks enforcement is some type of “racist” or “political” statement. Here in America we don’t have the choice to select which laws we wish to respect or enforce, they are all treated equally.
We must pull together and persuade our elected officials, and law enforcement agencies that the laws of the land need to be enforced for the good of the nation and for our national security.
Posted by: kdreger | June 9, 2011 7:27 PM