A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit brought by the National Coalition of Latino Clergy, to defeat Oklahoma's new anti-illegal foreign national law.
"U.S. District Judge James Payne [U. S. District Court, Western District of Oklahoma
Nominated by George W. Bush on September 4, 2001] ordered the case dismissed because he found that none of the plaintiffs in the case had been injured by the law, so they do not have standing to file the suit.
Comparable cases before the U.S. Supreme Court have determined that ''a proper constitutional vetting of any law cannot be achieved without the existence of a plaintiff that has actually been injured by the challenged law,'' Payne says in his order.
''While a constitutional vetting of HB 1804 would serve the interest of all parties to this litigation, the interest of the public would be be served by a sharpening of the issues presented prior to such a vetting,'' he says. ''Such a sharpening can only be achieved through a suit brought by plaintiffs with well-defined injuries causally connected to HB 1804.''
Payne's order does not determine the constitutionality of the law."