Challenges to SB 1070 face deadline

by Alia Beard Rau - Jun. 8, 2010 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic

With eight weeks until Arizona's new immigration law goes into effect, the petitions and court filings are flying furiously.

On Monday, a grass-roots group that calls itself Compassion for All vowed to work tirelessly to collect the 153,365 signatures needed by July 1 to get the initiative on the November ballot. But it said it needs every Arizonan to help.

"The Legislature has spoken, but we the people have not," said Moira Carney, the group's treasurer and a Central High School Spanish teacher. "We are the people of the state of Arizona and if we are compassionate, humane people, we must stop this kind of legislation."

Arizona's immigration law makes it a state crime to be in the country illegally. It states that an officer engaged in a lawful stop, detention or arrest shall, when practicable, ask about a person's legal status when reasonable suspicion exists that the person is in the U.S. illegally.

The Compassion for All initiative proposes to repeal the law and, for three years, impose a moratorium on legislation that focuses on the enforcement of federal-immigration laws.

The group said it has collected "several thousand" signatures so far, but would need to collect at least 7,500 a day to meet the deadline.

Volunteers will be collecting signatures and registering Arizonans to vote all day Saturday at Steele Indian School Park near the entrance to the light-rail station at Indian School Road and Central Avenue in Phoenix.

Carney said the group doesn't know if it can succeed but it had to try. She said even if she can change just a few minds, that will be a success.

The group also is hoping for help from the courts, where, over the past week, motions have been filed related to the five lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of the law.

Attorneys representing plaintiffs in three of the lawsuits filed motions asking the U.S. District Court in Phoenix to stop the law before it goes into effect and until the court can issue its own ruling.

The attorneys representing Phoenix police Officer David Salgado and Tucson police Officer Martin Escobar filed a motion to consolidate those two lawsuits.

Gov. Jan Brewer's attorneys filed a motion to help put all five cases under the same judge, arguing that the cases all "challenge SB 1070 on the grounds that it violates the U.S. Constitution and that it is pre-empted by federal immigration laws."

Organizing all of the cases under the same judge, Brewer's attorneys argued, "would avoid the risk of potentially conflicting orders and judgments issued by different judges."

Stephen Montoya, the attorney representing Salgado, filed a response, agreeing that the cases involve similar legal challenges and should be heard by the same judge.

The attorneys representing Brewer also requested a few extra days to complete their legal response to the lawsuits. Their response was due Monday in two of the cases; they asked for an extension until Friday.

No hearings have yet been scheduled in any of the cases. Also, no ruling has been issued regarding who will represent the state in the case. Both Brewer's office and Attorney General Terry Goddard have claimed that right.

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