经济学人下载:外星人在亚拉巴马星球

The other main issue is that parts of the law, at least, may be unconstitutional. Earlier this month the SPLC, along with several other civil-rights groups, filed a lawsuit. One plaintiff, Matt Webster, is adopting two undocumented boys. Federal law allows that, but the children do not gain legal status until several years after the adoption is completed. In the meantime, if the law takes effect on September 1st as scheduled, Mr Webster would not be allowed to drive his children to school.

还有一个主要问题是该法的至少部分内容和宪法不一致。本月初南方贫穷法律中心与其他几家人权团体联合发起了一场诉讼。原告之一Matt Webster收养了两名未注册男孩。这符合联邦法律规定，但两男孩直到收养完成后好几年之后才获得合法地位。同时，如果新移民法按计划于9月1日生效，Webster将不被允许将他的孩子送入学校。

In a speech this week Mike Hubbard, the speaker of the Alabama House and a sponsor of the bill, said that he understands that parts of the law may be struck down. That is what has happened to such laws in other states. In Alabama, it might even be tacitly welcome. There was no pressing public need for such a law, given how few immigrants are in the state, but some saw it as good politics. Once the bill was written, Republicans, who control both chambers of the state legislature and hold all the statewide offices, could hardly vote against it without looking like liberals. A setback from the courts would save Alabama the cost and trouble of full implementation, without embarrassing anyone. In fact, Republicans could claim to be victims of federal meddling.

该法案的支持者、亚拉巴马州议院议长Mike Hubbard在本周的一次演讲中，对该法部分规定可能会作废表示理解。这种现象也发生在其他州的相关法律中。在亚拉巴马州，新法甚至可能会受人们心照不宣的欢迎。公众对该法没有迫切的需求，因为该州移民甚少，但一些人认为这是好政治。一旦该法案被通过，共和党即使支配参众两院并掌握全国州所有公务员职位，但如果不采取（在移民问题上持宽松态度的）自由派眼光或将很难通过投票将其废除。一桩新法在法庭受挫的案件或许可以为亚拉巴马省下由于完全实施该法产生的不少成本以及麻烦，并且不会让任何人难堪。实际上，共和党或许要成为联邦干扰的受害者。