This may be one of the best lines of dialogue I've read in the paper in a long time.

According to Howard Fischer's article about Arizona's continuing effort to deny drivers licenses to Dreamers, one of the federal appellate judges got a bit testy—maybe "truthful" is a better word—with an Arizona assistant attorney general trying to make the case that the state should be able to reenact the license ban another judge threw out last December.

Judge Harry Pregerson pointed out that those in the federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program have been driving legally since a trial judge ordered the state to reverse its ban and begin issuing them licenses in December.

“We know—at least I know—that no horrible thing has happened on the highways of Arizona since this went into effect,” he said during arguments here.

He then addressed Assistant Attorney General Dominic Draye, who was asking the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to reverse what the trial judge had ordered.

“What is the problem?” he asked.

“Does it come down to racism?” Pregerson continued. “Does it come down to discrimination against these people? What else does it come down to?”

That suggestion left Draye confounded.

“Judge, I wish you wouldn’t say things like that,” he responded.

But Pregerson would not back down.

“I’m saying it because it’s the truth,” the judge said.

“Judge, I wish you wouldn’t say things like that." Priceless. "Please don't call our racist attempts to deny drivers licenses to Dreamers 'racism.' We prefer to refer to it as 'rule of law' when we screw over Latinos."