Arizona

Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) accidentally walked into the world of “birther” conspiracy theories last month, when a local newspaper seemed to report that Franks was considering a lawsuit against the president. Franks cleared the matter up immediately: He had merely considered suing for proof of the president’s citizenship before and after the 2008 election, but [...]

At a press conference on Rep. Jack Kingston’s (R-Ga.) anti-”czar” legislation, Rep. John Shadegg (R-Ariz.) held up a chart of 34 “czars” in the administration.
“I don’t think you know who these people are,” said Shadegg, ribbing the media for not holding them “accountable.”
But several of the people in Shadegg’s chart were actually confirmed by the [...]

Chris Simcox, the co-founder of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, is in D.C. this week — he marched in the “taxpayer march” on 9/12, and he was working radio row at the Federation for American Immigration Reform’s “Hold Their Feet to the Fire” lobbying event. And Simcox, who’s running in the 2010 Arizona Republican primary [...]

After a week of unwanted attention that seemed to end with him signing on to Rep. Bill Posey’s (R-Fla.) bill to demand birth certificates from future presidential candidates, Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) has released the audio and transcript from the town hall where, according to the Mohave Daily News, he had talked about suing for [...]

Bethany Haley, a spokeswoman for the Republican congressman from Arizona, expands on the comments Franks made about President Obama’s citizenship at a town hall meeting this weekend. Franks was misquoted, says Haley, and only said that “he had, at one time, considered the possibility of filing a lawsuit back when the issue was first brought [...]

When he was confronted by Mike Stark, Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) gave perhaps the clearest statement of any Republican member of Congress on the persistent conspiracy theories about President Obama’s birth. That makes this report on a weekend town hall meeting especially confusing.
Franks said there was not enough evidence that Obama is not an American [...]

Maricopa County, Ariz., Sheriff Joe Arpaio is already being sued by the federal government for alleged racial profiling and related civil rights violations. Now, he’s being sued by the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona, which claims he and his deputies abused their authority to enforce federal immigration laws when they illegally arrested and detained [...]

We now know that there were two men who openly carried assault rifles — CNN reports they were AR-15s — outside the Veterans of Foreign Wars hall in Phoenix where President Obama spoke yesterday. According to The Associated Press, about eight more people were carrying other types of guns.
Arizona allows people to openly carry guns, [...]

More areas will begin allowing local law enforcement to enforce immigration law.

Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) has said he’ll vote against Sonia Sotomayor’s nomination to the Supreme Court, Politico reports.
A key member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Kyl’s vote could encourage other Republicans on the committee to vote against Sotomayor as well. He was reportedly undecided as early as yesterday.
Sotomayor is still expected to [...]