Monday's Supreme Court ruling on Arizona's immigration law was at first reported as something of a mixed bag—the court struck down part of the law, but upheld another part. And Arizona's Republican governor Jan Brewer even tried to claim an outright victory, telling reporters that the court upheld "the heart" of the law.
We've already explained that's way off the mark. The court struck down most of the law, and said it couldn't yet rule on one provision requiring police to ask about people's immigration status because it hasn't gone into effect yet.
And on The Last Word Monday, Julian Epstein, a former chief counsel to the House Judiciary committee, went further, telling Lawrence O'Donnell that in fact, the court's ruling was an almost complete victory for opponents of the law.
"It's very important to understand that this was not a split decision," said Epstein, a Democrat. "This was an old-fashioned slap-down by a conservative court against the Arizona law, and a conservative movement on immigration."
Epstein added: "This was a huge victory for the Obama administration."
On The Ed Show earlier Monday, Rep. Raul Grijalva called Brewer "delusional."