Lamar Smith to Assume Chair of House Judiciary Committee

By Joe Guzzardi
November 3, 2010

Bucking a national trend Sharron Angle, the Nevada Republican Senate challenger, lost handily to the unpopular Democratic incumbent Harry Reid, 51-45 percent.

To fathom to the magnitude of Angle’s ineptitude, more than 50 percent of Nevadans hold Reid in low esteem. Furthermore, Reid has been a rubber stamp for President Barack Obama who represents the reason that House of Representatives’ Democrats lost 60 seats Tuesday night.

In the end, Angle couldn’t sell herself to a willing and eager Nevada audience yearning to get rid of Reid. Nevada despite having the nation’s highest unemployment rate, the most foreclosure and personal bankruptcies per capita sent Reid back to Washington, D.C. for a fifth term.

To pull off a victory, Angle had to do two things, neither of which she did. First, Angle needed to keep the voting close in Clark County which includes Las Vegas, and is home to 70 percent of Nevadans.

Second, Angle had to win by a substantial margin in her Washoe County backyard.

Instead, Reid crushed Angle in Clark County, 54 to 41 percent and won comfortably in Washoe 50-45.

Summing up, Nevadans overwhelmingly rejected Angle. While Angle studiously avoided the media during the last days of her campaign, Reid, backed by a powerful machine that included an effective get out the vote campaign that drew heavily on union backing, pulled away.

But applying the every cloud has a silver lining theory to Reid’s victory, Americans concerned about the probability that so-called comprehensive immigration reform might be jammed through the next Congressional session should breath a little easier.

Even during the early, heady days of the Obama administration, the Democratic Congress failed to bring amnesty legislation to the floor.

Although Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi constantly referred to amnesty as a top Obama priority and pumped it endlessly, it never came up for a vote.

The Senate that Reid will preside over for the next two years is a different place than the one he controlled this session. Democrats have suffered a net loss of at least six Senate seats to Republicans, with the possibility of losing two more in undecided races in Washington and Alaska.

In January, Reid and his diminished ranks with their slim majority will grapple with new House Leader John Boehner’s emboldened GOP majority. Many of the returning incumbents and newly elected representatives support lower levels of immigration which would make passing amnesty legislation impossible.

The best news is that the House can turn its attention to passing pro-active immigration laws that put enforcement proponents on the offensive.

With the House now Republican-controlled, Texas’ Lamar Smith will replace Democrat John Conyers as Chairman of the Judiciary Committee. Other strong immigration enforcement advocates on the committee include California’s Elton Gallegly and Dan Lungren as well as Iowa’s Steve King.

Capitol Hill insiders suggest that Smith might hold hearings on crucial immigration related issues. Sources indicate that one of Smith’s main objectives is to debate a change in the 14th Amendment to eliminate the birthright citizenship provision.

The newly configured House will push for tighter border security and more workplace enforcement legislation like The SAVE Act which calls for 6,000 additional border patrol agents and mandates E-Verify for all employers.

As the co-sponsor of dozens of bills that call for reducing illegal immigration through vigorous interior enforcement and protecting American workers from cheap alien labor by stricter hiring laws, Smith will promote more aggressive, restrictionist legislation that will benefit all Americans.

Despite Reid’s narrow escape, last night was a big win for backers of less immigration.

Joe Guzzardi has written editorial columns—mostly about immigration and related social issues – since 1990. He is a senior writing fellow for Californians for Population Stabilization (CAPS) and his columns have frequently been syndicated in various U.S. newspapers and websites. He can be reached at [email protected].