Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard first said he opposed Arizona’s immigration law and would not defend the law from court challenges.  The Arizona legislature passed House Bill 2162, a law that allows the governor to “direct counsel other than the attorney general to appear on behalf of this state to defend any challenge” to Arizona’s immigration law.  Now that Terry Goddard, prospective Democrat candidate for Arizona Governor in the next election, realizes that the vast majority of Arizona voters approve the law, he now wants to defend the law in court so he can take political credit while opposing the law.  Mr. Goddard was against Arizona’s immigration law before he was in favor of it.

Rather than following Arizona law, i.e., HB 2162, the Arizona Attorney General believes he can ignore it and can pick and chose which Arizona laws to defend based on his political views, rather than whether or not a law needs his representation in court because the State of Arizona is a party to the lawsuit.  Mr. Attorney General refuses to represent Arizona in its lawsuit challenging Obamacare.  The Arizona Governor correctly does not want the law to be defended by somebody who opposes it.  Now the Governor and the Attorney General are sparring over who will represent Arizona in litigation involving SB 1070.