Heavyweights Announce Support for FAIR in Kansas Tuition Suit

As Stein Report readers know, FAIR along with Kris Kobach is litigating a landmark lawsuit against the 2004 Kansas law granting in-state tuition to illegal aliens. The district judge in the suit said that the American students had no standing to sue, despite the clear language of the 1996 law requiring states to give in-state tuition to all Americans, regardless of state residence, if they granted it to an illegal alien. On October 26, Mountain States Legal Foundation (MSLF) has filed an amicus brief in the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in support of FAIR's suit, on behalf of former Senator Allen K. Simpson and Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX). Simpson and Smith were two key architects of the 1996 Immigration Reform law (IIRAIRA). "It was the Congressional intent that Section 505 [of IIRIRA] create a valid, enforceable right for the 'especial benefit' of United States citizens and nationals," Simpson says in his affidavit.

Washington Legal Foundation WLF), another leading public interest law firm, has filed a second amicus brief on behalf of a U.S. citizen who was denied in-state tuition in Kansas even though she graduated from a Kansas high school. WLF backed FAIR’s claim that Kansas has denied the students’ constitutional right to equal protection of the laws, and pointed out that DHS has refused to respond to two administrative complaints filed by WLF in New York and Texas, asking the Bush Administration to enforce the 1996 law.