These three decisions in three different parts of the country included both Republican- and Democratic-appointed judges. In the term loved by the mainstream media, there is now bipartisan judicial support for state and local legislation against illegal immigrants.

University of Missouri at Kansas City Law professor Kris Kobach says these decisions give "a green light to other communities" seeking to pass similar ordinances.

Hazleton, Pa., Mayor Lou Barletta vigorously supported his city's ordinance cracking down on illegal immigrants. Despite being vilified by liberal Pennsylvania newspapers, he won nearly 95 percent of the vote in his Republican primary for re-election last year.

But that wasn't all. In the same election, Barletta also won the Democratic nomination on a write-in vote, defeating the leading candidate in the Democratic primary by a stunning 2-to-1 margin.

In the Arizona case, the court noted the research of George Borjas, an economist at the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government, who concluded that hiring illegal immigrants depresses wages for legal workers because illegals accept lower pay without benefits. Those hardest hit are uneducated legal workers, who in Arizona alone lost $1.4 billion in 2006 in the form of lower wages.

The nine months between now and the November election give states, cities and towns ample time to do what Congress has failed to do: protect U.S. citizens against the lawless entry of illegal immigrants. That means penalizing employers who hire illegal immigrants and landlords who lease to them.

It is long overdue for public officials to rid the United States of imported crimes and to stand up for legal workers, especially the poorly educated ones who need an entry-level job to start building their lives. Now that a green light has been provided by the courts, states and cities should proceed full steam ahead to protect their citizens from illegal immigrants.