District Court Judge: No Time Frame on Injunction Decision

July 8, 2010 at 11:55am in We Stand with Arizona SB1070

From FOX Phoenix http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/dpp/news/ju ... e-7-7-2010

District Court Judge: No Time Frame on Injunction DecisionUpdated:
Thursday, 08 Jul 2010, 8:25 AM MDT
Published : Wednesday, 07 Jul 2010, 9:20 PM MDT
By JACQUES BILLEAUD
Associated Press Writer

PHOENIX - A federal judge hearing six legal challenges to Arizona's new immigration law said Wednesday that she is making no promises on whether she will rule on requests to block enforcement of the law
before it takes effect July 29.

U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton told attorneys at a scheduling conference that she intends to take the time required to make a sound legal decision.

"I have to do the best job I can," Bolton said.

The Arizona law requires police officers, while enforcing other laws, to ask about a person's immigration status if officers have a reasonable suspicion that the person is in the country illegally.

It also makes it a state crime for legal immigrants to not carry their immigration documents.

Arizona Immigration Law - Senate Bill 1070:

Click here to read the entire bill online http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/dpp/news/sb ... _text_2010

Click here for a fact sheet/summary of the bill http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/dpp/news/sb ... sheet_2010

Click here to read the Justice Dept. Lawsuit against Arizona http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/dpp/news/im ... na-lawsuit

The hearing was held as part of a lawsuit filed Tuesday by the U.S. Department of Justice, which alleges the new law is an unconstitutional intrusion on the federal government's power to regulate immigration.

Federal lawyers requested that the judge hold a hearing two or three days before the law takes effect to consider their request to block the law. Instead, the judge set a July 22 hearing.

Bolton said she found the timing of the federal government's hearing request laughable, given that it filed its lawsuit just this week.

"I think that is completely unrealistic," Bolton said.

John Bouma, a lawyer defending the law on behalf of the state, noted that the federal government waited to file its lawsuit after the July Fourth weekend -- two months after the first challenges were filed.

Arthur Goldberg, an attorney representing the federal government, said the lawsuit had to be reviewed by many people in the federal government before it was filed.

Bolton, who had been hearing five challenges to the law, concluded that she also will oversee the U.S. Department of Justice's lawsuit, which had been assigned to another judge.