Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., who has been critical of Arizona's new immigration law, said Thursday he hasn't yet read the law and is going by what he's read in newspapers or seen on television.
Mr. Holder is conducting a review of the law, at President Obama's request, to see if the federal government should challenge it in court. He said he expects he will read the law by the time his staff briefs him on their conclusions.
"I've just expressed concerns on the basis of what I've heard about the law. But I'm not in a position to say at this point, not having read the law, not having had the chance to interact with people are doing the review, exactly what my position is," Mr. Holder told the House Judiciary Committee.
The public broadly supports a new Arizona law aimed at dealing with illegal immigration and the law’s provisions giving police increased powers to stop and detain people who are suspected of being in the country illegally.
Fully 73% say they approve of requiring people to produce documents verifying their legal status if police ask for them. Two-thirds (67%) approve of allowing police to detain anyone who cannot verify their legal status, while 62% approve of allowing police to question people they think may be in the country illegally.
Majorities of Democrats (from the Bitter, Clingy Wing) support it too.
The guy charged with protecting us against Islamic terrorism -- on the legal, law-enforcement side of things, which is the most important side, his allies claim -- can't even bring himself to say that, among a variety of other factors, Shahzad and the Panty Bomber may have been motivated partly by Islamic terrorism.
He can't even bring himself to admit that Islamic terrorism may be a contributing factor in Islamic terrorism.