The U.S. Department of Justice filed suit in federal court on Tuesday against the state of Arizona and Governor Jan Brewer over SB1070, aka "papers, please".
The suit, which you can check out here, asks the court to declare SB 1070 null and void. The DOJ, in addition to the NAACP, ACLU and MALDEF, has also requested an injunction on SB1070, as it is scheduled to go into effect July 29. The side effect of all of this: It will most likely tie up SB1070 long enough for the media and the rest of the world to lose interest in the Arizona Immigration madness.
But wait! We just had our chance in the spotlight! And we kind of blew it. Here's what we'll miss about being on the national radar:
1. Angry Art: How nice did it feel to give Sheriff Joe (or at least the pinata with his face on it) a good whack with a metal bat? And how cool was it to see local artists band together to create posters, murals, fliers, and T-shirts? Sometimes political frenzy is freaking creative, and that's something we definitely appreciate.
2. Colbert Report Love: We may have had a small taste of the SNL spotlight when ASU denied Obama an honorary degree, but we were on Steven Colbert's prime time with SB1070. He even gave us a mention in his section "The Word." The word for Arizona? "No Problemo," where he said, "harassing Latinos with racial profiling isn't an inevitable side effect of Arizona's anti-immigration law -- it's the entire point." Sure, Colbert's blunt honesty wasn't a highlight, but damn it felt good to get a word.
3. New Friends: It was kind of fun to see Jan Brewer making new friends -- especially her new bestie, Greta Van Susteren on Fox News. The two were cute as they tossed and hit softball questions. But we knew they secretly just loved being around each other. We'll miss their friendly banter and what we can only imagine was a hell of a pre-show makeover.
4. People outside in downtown Phoenix: Complain all you want about it being 115 degrees, but a lot of people around town were even more pissed about what was going on around the capital. So they packed a few water bottles, some serious sunscreen and went. They showed up in droves to rally, shout dance and spell out messages to Congress. And they created an uproar that hasn't been seen downtown since the last swimsuit season arrived at the ASU Downtown campus.
5. Sexy time: Creativity, protest, and all this love really inspired something. We used the opportunity of getting together to meet new people and perhaps take a few home. When can "Baby, you can come across my border anytime" fail? When can someone be offended when you ask, "Are those your papers in your pants, or are you just happy to see me?" Check out the rest of our list here.