Judge bans “illegal” and “aliens” from courtroom

By Michelle Malkin  •  November 7, 2008 10:33 AM

Prediction: It won’t be long before this is an official Obama policy as well.

La Raza powers…activate:

Arizona’s Supreme Court Justice has agreed to enforce the Hispanic Bar Association’s demands of banning the terms “illegal” and “aliens” in all of the state’s courtrooms.

Claiming that the terms are inflammatory, the president of Arizona’s Hispanic Bar Association, (known as Los Abogados) has asked state Supreme Court Chief Justice Ruth McGregor to stop using them at trials or hearings because they create perceptions of judicial bias.

In a strongly worded letter to the chief justice, Los Abogados’ president says attaching an illegal status to a person establishes a brand of contemptibility, creates the appearance of anti-immigrant prejudice and tarnishes the image of courts as a place where disputes may be fairly resolved.

It further points out that no human being is illegal and that a national Hispanic journalism association has roundly criticized the reference for dehumanizing a segment of the population. The letter goes on to criticize the state’s High Court for using the term “illegals” in at least two opinions and the term “illegal aliens” in dozens of others.

It concludes with a list of acceptable and unacceptable terms relating to illegal immigration. Among those the group wants banned are; immigration crisis, immigration epidemic, open borders advocates, anchor babies and invaders. Among the acceptable terms are foreign nationals, unauthorized workers and human rights advocates.

Here’s the banned words list via Judicial Watch:

Posted in: Immigration

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Comments


  1. #101
    On November 7th, 2008 at 3:08 pm, Send_Me said:

    Cultural hegemony: “a diverse culture can be ruled or dominated by one group or class through common sense, that everyday practices and shared beliefs provide the foundation for complex systems of domination.”
    If you can change/control what a society considers “common sense” or what is “politically correct”, then, by default, you can control that society. We see this with the invasion (a word still ‘allowed’ apparently), with skin color and the accompanying baggage, with changing conceptions as to the role of government, etc.

  2. #102
    On November 7th, 2008 at 3:21 pm, secondsight said:

    “Invader” still works fine.

  3. #103
    On November 7th, 2008 at 3:55 pm, Bob Mc said:

    What words do they ban next-
    “Criminal”?
    “Defendant”?
    “The Accused”?
    “Inmate”?
    “Lawyer”?

    Those are all some pretty damn loathsome terms to refer to somebody as, are they going to ban them all?

    I hold this court in CONTEMPT!

  4. #104
    On November 7th, 2008 at 4:12 pm, flaming_o said:

    Among the acceptable terms are foreign nationals, unauthorized workers and human rights advocates.

    I’m no lawyer but I propose . . .

    instead of “foreign nationals”, use “foreign nationals who are here illegally”

    instead of “unauthorized workers”, use “unauthorized workers who are here illegally”

    and instead of “human rights advocates”, oh hockey sticks! Just use “illegal aliens”.

    Muy bueno.

  5. #105
    On November 7th, 2008 at 4:16 pm, jdsbc98 said:

    Ignore it…say illigal immigrants

  6. #107
    On November 7th, 2008 at 4:34 pm, Freddy said:

    This is simply a case of a court overstepping its bounds. Federal law trumps state law. This court cannot change federal immigration laws, and those laws in fact use these terms.

    Changing federal law is outside of the jurisdiction of this court, no matter how important they think they are.

  7. #108
    On November 7th, 2008 at 4:47 pm, Lee Hazel said:

    Does the use of any of the banned terms trigger a “Hate Crime” offense under civil rights laws? What is next, use of these terms outside the courtroom is…what?

    PC is Thought Control
    LEE
    This is a good example!

  8. #109
    On November 7th, 2008 at 5:29 pm, love2rumba said:

    thought control hard at work…

  9. #110
    On November 7th, 2008 at 6:01 pm, Gregor said:

    Banning the word “illegal” = Expected

    Seeing an add for “sexy & hot Russian girls” on the side-bar of Michelle Malkin’s website = Unexpected

  10. #111
    On November 7th, 2008 at 6:19 pm, frontierguy said:

    It is funny that open border Hispanic groups are quick to point out that not all illegals are hispanics, but when terms like illegal alien is used they are the first ones there to protest.

  11. #112
    On November 7th, 2008 at 6:33 pm, Leatherneck said:

    I just preformed another ultrasound exam on an illegal alien looking to have an anchor baby.

    Mexico should be sued for the hospital cost. When the patient is fit to travel, she should be deported along with all the other illegal aliens.

    A five ton with water, and MRE’s can carry a lot of illegal aliens.

  12. #113
    On November 7th, 2008 at 6:47 pm, Elm Creek Smith said:

    On November 7th, 2008 at 12:28 pm, Red State Skeptic said:

    Another outright false post by Red State Skeptic. Ruth McGregor is the Chief Justice of the Arizona Supreme Court. She sent the list to the other justices and all the judges in the Arizona Courts of Appeal. How long do you think it will take for judges all the way down the line to get the hint that use of “them words” will get a ruling overturned?

    Talk to me when it happens. No matter your surmise, every word I have said is the truth, whereas MM’s title is a bald-faced lie.

    Your naivete is cute. If you think it won’t happen, you don’t know how the judicial system works. MM’s title is accurate, every word. Your words? No so much.

    ECS

  13. #114
    On November 7th, 2008 at 6:54 pm, rktkr said:

    KTAR radio in phx, az. just reported that this story is wrong, that the judge has said she never made such a ruling, and that she only told the group that she would pass the request along.

    imagine that.

    MM, you got some kind of power, girl.

  14. #115
    On November 7th, 2008 at 6:56 pm, rktkr said:

    jeez.. you already got the word… doh!

  15. #116
    On November 7th, 2008 at 7:26 pm, airbrush101 said:

    I can’t help but picture John Belushi and his buddys from “Animal House” sitting in a court room, while concealing their mouths, sayin..

    “Cough**Illegal**Cough”.

  16. #117
    On November 7th, 2008 at 9:15 pm, madmonkphotog said:

    Federal lawsuit.

  17. #118
    On November 7th, 2008 at 9:48 pm, bedje said:

    Felon=Person on the wrong path that had it “rough” growing up.

    Prisoner=Person being held in captivity (with cable, weight rooms, game rooms and three squares a day) that was wrongly accused. Ref: See felon.

  18. #120
    On November 8th, 2008 at 12:25 pm, AniMEL said:

    Oh, gag me. Gag me with a sharp instrument. This is the state I live in, frag nabbit! Why wasn’t this judge’s name on the ballot for potential removal?!?

    Thank you, Warren Court, for screwing up our criminal justice system to the point that we’re picking apart the terms used in a courtroom…

  19. #121
    On November 8th, 2008 at 12:52 pm, robhic said:

    So wait a minute. If someone has snuck into this country without permission, that’s ILLEGAL, right?

    And if said person isn’t a US citizen, then they are an ALIEN, right?

    So calling a border-jumper illegal and alien is technically correct.

    If you don’t like the terms, well just stay in your own country and don’t come here illegally.

    PROBLEM SOLVED!

  20. #122
    On November 8th, 2008 at 5:02 pm, MNUSMCDavid said:

    Okay you’re not illegal and you’re not an alien… you’re a stinking invader and hostile entity.

  21. #124
    On November 9th, 2008 at 2:21 am, conservative in europe said:

    If any of you have the chance to look at the current version of the Green Card, you will notice that the word “alien” is not on it. Anywhere.

    Mr. Clinton did that in ‘96.

    It just says “Permanent Resident”.

    One of those words is true, the other shouldn’t be.

  22. #125
    On November 9th, 2008 at 8:05 am, regalo99 said:

    Let’s just eradicate the term illegal from the language all together. Why not completely twist the truth altogether? After all, no one, and soon, apparently, nothing, is/will be illegal!

    Illegal= “unfortunate”
    Theft= “borrowing”
    Murder= “accident”
    Assault and battery= “playful love taps”

    Soften the language to soften the law. Eradicate the language of the law, and we eradicate the law itself.

  23. #126
    On November 9th, 2008 at 3:42 pm, nlebou said:

    This does not surprise me. Didn’t I hear something a few months ago about not being able to use the word RAPE in a RAPE trial?

  24. #130
    On November 14th, 2008 at 1:00 pm, Dimsdale said:

    I did’t see “foreign invaders” or “parasites” on the list.

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