Peon's Place

The U.S. Justice Department is filing a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Arizona’s new law targeting illegal immigrants, setting the stage for a clash between the federal government and state over the nation’s toughest immigration crackdown. The planned lawsuit was confirmed to The Associated Press by a Justice Department official with knowledge of the plans. The official didn’t want to be identified before a public announcement planned for later Tuesday.

The lawsuit will argue that Arizona’s new measure requiring state and local police to question and possibly arrest illegal immigrants during the enforcement of other laws, like traffic stops, usurps federal authority. Tuesday’s action has been expected for weeks. President Barack Obama has called the state law misguided. Supporters say it is a reasonable reaction to federal inaction on immigration.

The law requires officers, while enforcing other laws, to question a person’s immigration status if there’s a reasonable suspicion that they are in the country illegally. Republican Gov. Jan Brewer signed the law in April, and it was set to go into effect July 29. The lawsuit could delay implementation of the law. Arizona passed the law after years of frustration over problems associated with illegal immigration, including drug trafficking and violent kidnappings. The state is the biggest gateway into the U.S. for illegal immigrants, and is home to an estimated 460,000 illegal immigrants. The lawsuit is expected to be announced by Attorney General Eric Holder and Homeland Security secretary Janet Napolitano, a former Arizona governor.

President Barack Obama addressed the Arizona law in a speech on immigration reform last week. He touched on one of the major concerns of federal officials, that other states were poised to follow Arizona by crafting their own immigration enforcement laws. ”As other states and localities go their own ways, we face the prospect that different rules for immigration will apply in different parts of the country,” Obama said. “A patchwork of local immigration rules where we all know one clear national standard is needed.”

The law makes it a state crime for legal immigrants to not carry their immigration documents and bans day laborers and people who seek their services from blocking traffic on streets. The law also prohibits government agencies from having policies that restrict the enforcement of federal immigration law and lets Arizonans file lawsuits against agencies that hinder immigration enforcement.

A federal lawsuit will dramatically escalate the legal and political battle over the Arizona law, which gives police the power to question anyone if they have a “reasonable suspicion” that the person is an illegal immigrant. In addition to Obama and Holder, the measure has drawn words of condemnation from civil rights groups and has prompted at least five other lawsuits. Arizona officials have defended the law and urged the Obama administration not to sue.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton first revealed last month that the Justice Department intended to sue Arizona, and department lawyers have been preparing their case, sources said. The filing is expected to include declarations from other U.S. agencies saying that the Arizona law would place an undue burden on their ability to enforce immigration laws nationwide, because Arizona police are expected to refer so many illegal immigrants to federal authorities.

The U.S. Postal Service proposed raising the price of first-class stamps by 2 cents, to 46 cents, and rates for periodicals by 8 percent and catalogs by 5.1 percent to narrow a deficit projected at $7 billion this year.

The price increases would raise $2.3 billion in the first nine months of 2011, the service said in a statement today in Washington. Increases, which must be reviewed by Postal Regulatory Commission, would take effect Jan. 2. “We’re doing this because the Postal Service really faces a serious risk of financial insolvency,” said Stephen Kearney, a senior vice president with the Postal Service.

The commission has 90 days to rule on the proposal, one of several steps the Postal Service is considering to cope with a decline in mail volume as Internet use increases. The service also is seeking approval from Congress to drop Saturday delivery, which has been provided since the Post Office was founded in 1863.

The Postal Service is using a legal provision that lets it propose rate increases greater than the rate of inflation under “exceptional or extraordinary” circumstances, Kearney said. The average proposed rate increase is 5.6 percent, compared with inflation of 0.6 percent, he said.

Mailers of catalogs, magazines and newspapers are prepared to fight the rate increase, James Cregan, executive vice president of government affairs for the Magazine Publishers of America, said in an interview before the announcement. The group’s members include Time Warner Inc. and Meredith Corp.

JaMarcus Russell, former quarterback of the Oakland Raiders has been charged with codeine syrup possession and released on $2,500 bail. Russel’s arrest took place at his home in Alabama on Monday.

Russell rose through the ranks as the star quarterback at LSU, he was drafted in the No. 1 spot in 2007, unfortunately he failed to produce for the Raiders, winning only seven games in 25 starts, while completing just 52.1 percent of his passes with 18 career touchdowns. Russell managed only a 65.2 passer rating after throwing for 23 interceptions and giving up 15 lost fumbles.

Russell will return for a bond hearing on Wednesday and will then return again on July 20th to face charges. WALA-TV in Mobile, Alabama learned that the syrup codeine was being mixed with sprite to form a drink called “sip-sip.” If charged to the fullest extent of the law Russell can face a felony charge for carrying the drug without a prescription.

The former NFL QB should be able to afford top notch representation, having been paid $36.4 million through the 2009 season leading up to his release. ESPN is reporting that the New York Jets who had interest in acquiring Russell now have no intention of seeking his services.

A judge sentenced Lindsay Lohan to 90 days in jail today after ruling she violated probation in a 2007 drug case by failing to attend court-ordered alcohol education classes. Lohan burst into tears after the sentencing by Superior Court Judge Marsha Revel.

Lohan was not required to immediately surrender but will have to turn herself in on July 20. She will also be required to enter an inpatient rehab program after her release from jail.

The ruling came during a hearing set for the Mean Girls star after she missed a court date in May. She has been required to wear an ankle alcohol monitor since then. The monitor issued an alert after Lohan attended the MTV Movie Awards and after-parties. Prosecutors had hoped to introduce reports from the monitor to show the actress also had violated a court order against drinking imposed as part of her probation. Revel said during the ongoing hearing the device showed Lohan’s blood-alcohol content was 0.03.

However, Revel said she would not consider whether the actress actually consumed alcohol last month after attending the MTV Movie Awards. Lohan has denied drinking that night. The judge said she would honor what she told lawyers for both sides in a closed meeting last month and not allow the negative report to be used at the hearing. Revel said she would only consider whether the actress failed to complete the required number of alcohol education courses on time.

Cheryl Marshall, a co-founder of the education program, testified she did not report Lohan to be in violation of the judge’s order when the actress missed nine meetings then made up an undisclosed number. Marshall said she was aware the program received a phone call from the judge in December saying she wanted Lohan to attend classes each week. But Marshall added she never got a paper copy of the order and did not consider it active. Marshall’s program fought against providing records and testimony at the hearing, but Revel ruled the information was necessary.

Lohan’s attorney Shawn Chapman Holley said she hadn’t prepared to defend against the alcohol monitor report because the judge had said it would only affect bail for the actress. Revel doubled Lohan’s bail to $200,000 after learning of the alert last month. Lohan arrived about 10 minutes early for the hearing at the Beverly Hills courthouse. Lohan’s father Michael and younger sister also attended. The hearing immediately hit a snag as Chapman Holley and prosecutor Danette Meyers sparred on what evidence could be introduced.

Lohan spent 84 minutes in jail in 2007 after she pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts of being under the influence of cocaine and no contest to two counts of driving with a blood-alcohol level above 0.08 percent and one count of reckless driving. The plea came after a pair of high-profile arrests earlier that year. Lohan was sentenced to three years of probation but had to ask for a yearlong extension in October after she failed to complete her alcohol-education courses on time.