Tom Campbell's email to the Courage Campaign
From: Tom Campbell
To: Courage Campaign
Date: Sat, May 1, 2010 at 2:56 PM
Subject: Message from Tom Campbell
Dear Reverend Lee and Mr. Jacobs,
Neither of you tried to contact me prior to your mass emailing, warning that recipients should
"Tell Campbell you won't let him take California down the dark path of racism that Arizona has followed."
Had you contacted me, I would have urged you not to fan the flames of this controversy, as you have chosen to do. Your language is inflammatory in the highest degree.
We are all bound by the same federal laws. No state or city has the right to exclude itself from the application of federal law. And if a state wishes to ask its law enforcement agents to help enforce federal law, I don't see how we can object. After all, the federal government has done a terrible job of enforcing the laws against illegal immigration.
Under Arizona's law, and under the Constitution as interpreted by Chief Justice Earl Warren in Terry v. Ohio, in 1968, police officers have the right to ask individuals when they have reasonable grounds for suspicion of a law violation. Racial profiling does not constitute reasonable grounds. That was always clear in the new law; but changes adopted yesterday by Arizona make it even more clear. Another change makes even clearer the intent of the original law, that the stop must be for violation of other laws, such as a moving violation in traffic.
Californians, especially, ought to watch the experience of our neighbor state before rushing to condemn it. Like Arizona, California, too, has been burdened by the federal government's unwillingness to enforce existing laws, and our nation's sovereignty. "Sanctuary cities," setting themselves up as immune to federal law, are no more legal than the efforts of "nullification" of federal law tried by southern states before our country's civil war. And when the federal government fails to enforce the law, it is us, the citizens of the border states, who pay the price. We ought to be free, therefore, to take steps to assist federal enforcement of our nation's sovereignty, and its borders.
Sincerely,
Tom Campbell
Visiting Professor of Economics and Law, Chapman University
Professor of Law, Stanford University, 1987-2002
Associate Professor of Law, Stanford University, 1983-1987
Law Clerk, Justice Byron R. White, U.S. Supreme Court, 1977-1978
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