Arizona Judge Rules Parts Of Lawsuit Against SB 1070 Can Proceed

October 21, 2010
by Personal Liberty News Desk



The next chapter in the Arizona anti-immigration law saga was opened earlier this week, when U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton ruled against the motion to dismiss a lawsuit against SB 1070. The law, signed by Republican Governor Jan Brewer in April, would enable law enforcement officers to detain and demand identification from anyone they suspect of being in the United States illegally.

The lawsuit was filed by several groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union. It claims the law may violate the Fourth and the 14th Amendments of the U.S. Constitution because it "contains no meaningful procedural safeguards against erroneous deprivations of liberty, and immigration status is not something that is easily ascertainable," according to Courthouse News.

The ruling can be seen as a setback for Brewer, who is running on a platform of tough enforcement of immigration laws. Earlier this year, she criticized the Obama administration's legal challenge to SB 1070, which resulted in a temporary injunction, telling Fox News that "we are not going to back away from this issue. We are going to pursue it, we're going to be very aggressive."

However, supporters of the law did score a minor victory, as Bolton threw out some of the plaintiffs' claims. Those included allegations of First Amendment infringements and purported violations of a right to travel, Courthouse News further reported.

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