George Will writes in Wednesday's Washington Post that he supports the controversial Arizona immigration law, which has come under fire for its requirement that non-citizens carry proof of their right to be in this country.

“Arizona's law makes what is already a federal offense -- being in the country illegally -- a state offense. Some critics seem not to understand Arizona's right to assert concurrent jurisdiction,” Will writes. “The Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund attacks Gov. Jan Brewer's character and motives, saying she 'caved to the radical fringe.' This poses a semantic puzzle: Can the large majority of Arizonans who support the law be a 'fringe' of their state?

“Popularity makes no law invulnerable to invalidation. Americans accept judicial supervision of their democracy -- judicial review of popular but possibly unconstitutional statutes -- because they know that if the Constitution is truly to constitute the nation, it must trump some majority preferences. The Constitution, the Supreme Court has said, puts certain things 'beyond the reach of majorities.'”