Been watching and wondering when this challenge would come. The provision in the Real ID Act that allows Homeland Secretary Chertoff to waive off a swarm of pesky federal laws like the Endangered Species Act to get on with the business of building a fence in the Arizona desert (and soon, Texas riverlands?) is the legal cureall greasing the way for the atrocious wall-building plans that would blaze through so many Texas communities.
The community of Granjedo and town fighter Gloria Garza (above) was not too pleased to see the Wall would tear through their homes only to stop at the new trade bridge and leave Bushie Ray Hunt's lands untouched next door.
Activists in the Rio Grande Valley knew assaulting the Real ID provision was the core they had to angle after when and if they ever mobilized a lawsuit to knock the Security Czar from his black-smokin' Cat. Now the volley has been sailed to the Supremes from a familiar source -- one already entangeled with Chert in the Arizona wangle. (As soon as High Justeez manage to transform the Second Amendment into a First Requirement ('Thou Must Be Armed'), I suspect they will take a crack at it.
WASHINGTON – Today, Defenders of Wildlife and The Sierra Club filed a petition asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear its argument that the REAL ID Act, which grants Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Michael Chertoff unprecedented and sweeping authority to waive any and all laws to expedite the construction of a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, is unconstitutional besides being harmful to the environment and border communities. The two conservation groups charge that such unbounded authority to the executive branch is a violation of the Constitution’s separation of powers provisions.
“By granting one government official the absolute power to pick and choose which laws apply to border wall construction, the REAL ID Act proves itself to be both inherently dangerous and profoundly un-American. The issue here is not security vs. wildlife, but whether wildlife, sensitive environmental values and communities along the border will be given fair consideration in the decisions the government makes,” said Rodger Schlickeisen, president of Defenders of Wildlife. “We are hopeful that the Supreme Court will take up this case in order to protect the fundamental separation of powers principles enshrined in the United States Constitution”
“Laws such as the National Environmental Policy Act and the National Historic Preservation Act are part of America's enduring legal framework, and no agency or public official should be allowed to ignore them,” said Carl Pope, executive director of Sierra Club. “Our laws have provided Americans a voice in the decision-making process that affects their lives, their human rights and the protection of wildlife; our government must not exempt itself from obeying those laws.”
The groups’ petition is the latest chapter in their legal efforts dating back to October, 2007 to safeguard the borderlands in the face of aggressive border wall construction. At that time, Defenders and The Sierra Club filed a lawsuit challenging DHS and Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) approval of border wall construction within the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area in Arizona. After a federal judge in the U.S. District Court for District of Columbia found that the groups would likely prevail on their claims and issued an injunction blocking further construction of the wall, Secretary Chertoff waived 19 laws intended to protect public health, wildlife and endangered species, clean air and water, and historic and archeological sites to move forward with construction.
Course, the eyes are nosy vacuums, taking in more than they could ever offer back. Knowing as much, I shot much more than we would ever need to tell this story through, but even these images won't stretch across this digital divide bisecting the cavern of content from the bottomless pit of ethereal data mining. Still, there is something about doors and windows and the empty space and inhabited light... It's part of the trip.
So, a little slideshow from the river trip. Just to get my last dregs drugged.
While i was focused primarily on the doings of our national police force (USCBP), the Army of One made a brave appearance outside La Jolla on an unexpcted billboard. I wonder of all low-income communities of color have billboards offering raffle chances at a video gaming system for those who text their contact information to the nearest recruiting station.
And can you, you know, take your Wii with you when you go?
