On a five to three vote, the Supreme Court knocked out much of Arizona's immigration law Monday--a modest policy victory for the Obama Administration. But on the more important matter of the Constitution, the decision was an 8-0 defeat for the Administration's effort to upset the balance of power between the federal government and the states.
周一，最高法院以五对三的投票否决了亚利桑那州移民法案的大部分条款，这对于奥巴马政府来说是个不大不小的胜利。但在有关宪法这一更重要的问题上，最高法院以八比零的一致表决宣告奥巴马政府的完败，该政府妄图打破联邦政府与各州之间的权力平衡。
In Arizona v. United States, the majority overturned three of the four contested provisions of Arizona's controversial plan to have state and local police enforce federal immigration law. The Constitutional principles that Washington alone has the power to "establish a uniform Rule of Naturalization "and that federal laws precede state laws are noncontroversial. Arizona had attempted to fashion state policies that ran parallel to the existing federal ones.
在这起亚利桑那州与美国政府的诉讼案中，亚利桑那州计划让州和地方警察执行联邦移民法规，这一计划引起了争议，在该计划中，有四项条款受到质疑，其中有三项被最高法院多数票裁决为无效。宪法原则是：只有华府（即联邦政府）有权"制定统一的归化条例"；而且联邦法律地位高于州法律，这两点毋庸置疑。但亚利桑那州很早以前就企图制定与现有联邦法律平起平坐的本州政策。
Justice Anthony Kennedy, joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and the Court's liberals, ruled that the state flew too close to the federal sun. On the overturned provisions the majority held the congress had deliberately "occupied the field" and Arizona had thus intruded on the federal's privileged powers.
大法官Anthony Kennedy，首席大法官John Roberts 以及自由派大法官一致裁定亚利桑那州无视联邦政府，自行其是。对于被推翻的三项条款，多数人法官认为国会早已有意涉及该领域，所以亚利桑那州已侵犯联邦政府的特权。
However, the Justices said that Arizona police would be allowed to verify the legal status of people who come in contact with law enforcement. That's because Congress has always envisioned joint federal-state immigration enforcement and explicitly encourages state officers to share information and cooperate with federal colleagues.
但是，大法官们表示亚利桑那州警察可以检查可疑人员的身份。因为国会一直希望在移民问题上，联邦政府和州政府能联合执法，并且明确鼓励州政府官员能与联邦同事间加强合作，信息共享。
Two of the three objecting Justice--Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas--agreed with this Constitutional logic but disagreed about which Arizona rules conflicted with the federal statute. The only major objection came from Justice Antonin Scalia, who offered an even more robust defense of state privileges going back to the Alien and Sedition Acts.
反对否决亚利桑那州的三位大法官中，有两位，即Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas认同这一宪法逻辑，但对于亚利桑那州移民法中的哪一条款触犯了联邦法律这一问题存在分歧。唯一主要异议来自大法官Antonin Scalia，他对州特权给予更加强大的辩护，州特权的历史法律条文可以追溯到《制止外国人反美及制止煽动言论》这一法案。
The 8-0 objection to President Obama turns on what Justice Samuel Alito describes in his objection as "a shocking assertion of federal executive power".The White House argued that Arizona's laws conflicted with its enforcement priorities, even if state laws complied with federal statutes to the letter. In effect, the White House claimed that it could invalidate any otherwise legitimate state law that it disagrees with .
8:0反对奥巴马总统的原因在于他"对联邦执行权过于高调的声明"，正如Samuel Alito在其反对意见中所描写的那样。白宫认为亚利桑那州移民法与联邦政府的执法优先权矛盾，即使州级法律与联邦法律字字吻合。事实上，白宫宣称，它可以否决任何虽然合法但不被它认同的州级法律。
Some powers do belong exclusively to the federal government, and control of citizenship and the borders is among them. But if Congress wanted to prevent states from using their own resources to check immigration status, it could. It never did so. The administration was in essence asserting that because it didn't want to carry out Congress's immigration wishes, no state should be allowed to do so either. Every Justice rightly rejected this remarkable claim.
有些权力的确只归联邦政府，其中包括公民身份和边界的控制权。但是，如果国会想阻止州利用本州资源对移民身份进行核查，它是能做到的。但它从没有这么去做。政府实质上宣称，因为自己不想实现国会的移民愿望，任何州也不允许去实现。每位大法官均大义凛然地否决了这一惊人言论。