Dean Comments on Obama Nomination for Daily Journal, National Review
Dean Kevin R. Johnson commented for the Daily Journal legal newspaper on the Obama administration's decision not to follow through with reported plans to nominate Thomas Saenz, senior aide to Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and former lead litigation counsel for the Mexican-American legal Defense & Education Fund, to head the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice. In addition, Dean Johnson's writings on the issue were quoted in "the corner," a conservative blog that appears in the National Review Online.
Saenz won national recognition for his work on behalf of immigrants, including his efforts challenging the legality of California's Proposition 187, the ballot initiative that sought to deny social services to undocumented immigrants. Media reports named him as the new administration's choice last month, but Maryland labor secretary Thomas Perez was announced as the pick last week amid open speculation that Saenz's nomination would have been vehemently opposed by anti-immigration groups.
"It raises a lot of questions about how immigration reform will go forward if the attorney general and president don't support this nomination," the dean told the Daily Journal.
In "the corner," Dean Johnson's ImmigrationProf entry was quoted as evidence of concern among immigrant rights advocates about the Obama administration's commitment to comprehensive immigration reform. "It appears that Saenz's immigration work for MALDEF, including his successful litigation halting the implementation of California's Proposition 187, proved to be ‘too controversial' for his nomination to go forward," Dean Johnson wrote. "Given that the Obama administration apparently caved on this nomination, one wonders whether it will have the backbone to press on immigration reform. One also has to wonder with MALDEF, unlike the NAACP, has somehow become radioactive in national politics because it fights for the civil rights of immigrants."
Kevin R. Johnson is dean and Mabie-Apallas Professor of Public Interest Law and Chicana/o studies at UC Davis School of Law, and currently a member of the board of directors of MALDEF. He is an internationally recognized scholar in the fields of immigration law and policy, refugee law, and civil rights.