Issa: Justice lawsuit against Arizona is a ‘misuse of the Supremacy Clause’

House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Ranking Member Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) said Sunday that the Obama administration’s decision to sue Arizona over its controversial immigration law is a “miuse of the Supremacy Clause.”

Issa also expressed confidence that the Supreme Court would side with the border state.

{mosads}“The administration can’t have it both ways,” Issa said on C-SPAN’s “Newsmakers” Sunday. “They can’t have e-verify, they can’t have these programs where they’re supposed to take criminals and pass them over to the federal government if they’re illegally in the country and then say, ‘but if you do it wholesale where it actually works, we’re going to come after you.’

“That’s unacceptable and it’s certainly is a misuse of the Supremacy clause and I’m convinced that the Supreme Court will rule that way – that you can’t stop a state within its rights from asserting its sovereignty in support of federal law as long as they’re some state nexus which they’re clearly is.”

Issa also noted that Arizona “is not incarcerating people for being illegally in the country, they’re offering them up to the federal government to take their responsibility.”

On charges that the law might lead to racial profiling, he said it was unprecendented to challenge “something because it might lead to something.”

“There’s nowhere in the Constitution that says a state is limited to what it absolutely won’t do and can be stopped for what it might do…but for the Justice Department to ignore real problems around the country and spend time going after a state who simply says we’re going to self-help consistent with existing federal programs that have been passed by Republican and Democratic presidents – that’s pretty absurd,” Issa said.