AZ. Officials to Make Next Step in Immigration Appeal SCOTUS
Officials to Make Next Step in Immigration Appeal
Updated: Monday, 09 May 2011, 10:55 AM MDT
Published : Monday, 09 May 2011, 5:38 AM MDT
PHOENIX - Arizona officials plan to announce on Monday the next steps in the state's appeal of a decision that put the most controversial parts of the state's immigration enforcement law known as SB1070 on hold.
Gov. Jan Brewer and Attorney General Tom Horne scheduled a news conference for 11 a.m. MST at the state Capitol for the announcement. Their options were to try again with the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals or go directly to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The state is appealing a federal judge's ruling blocking key provisions of the law, including a requirement that police enforcing other laws question people about their immigration status when police have reason to suspect the people are in the country illegally.
A three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit refused April 11 to reverse the order that blocked major parts of the law from being enforced and said the federal government is likely to prove the law is unconstitutional and to succeed in its argument that Congress has given the federal government sole authority to enforce immigration laws.
Brewer's lawyers argued the federal government hasn't effectively enforced immigration law at the border and in the state's interior and that the state's intent in passing the law was to assist federal authorities as Congress has encouraged.
They also argued that a federal judge erred by accepting speculation by the federal government that the law might burden legal immigrants and by concluding the federal government would likely prevail.
The U.S. Justice Department urged the appeals court to uphold the order that blocked enforcement of parts of the law.
The federal government argued the law intrudes on its exclusive authority to regulate immigration, disrupts relations between the United States and Mexico, hinders cooperation between state and
federal officials and burdens legal immigrants.
Less than a day before the law was to take effect in July, U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton blocked key provisions of the law from being enforced.
Those included requirements that immigrants get and carry immigration registration papers and that police, in enforcing other laws, question the immigration status of those they suspect are in the country illegally.
Bolton let other parts take effect, such as a ban on obstructing traffic while seeking or offering day-labor services on streets.
The law was passed in April 2010 amid years of complaints that the federal government hasn't done enough to lessen the state's role as the nation's busiest illegal entry point. Its passage inspired protests, led to lawsuits seeking to overturn the law and a debate about whether the law would lead to racial profiling.
The Arizona law isn't the only one that has challenged federal primacy in immigration.
The U.S. Supreme Court is mulling arguments in an appeal by groups that are trying to overturn a 2007 Arizona law prohibiting employers from knowingly hiring illegal immigrants.
http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/dpp/news/im ... x-05092011
