Thread: Indiana state senators ask court for right to defend immigration law

5:21 PM, Sep 6, 2012
Lesley Weidenbener
courier-journal.com


The flag of Indiana

INDIANAPOLIS — Three state senators frustrated that Attorney General Greg Zoeller has largely given up a legal fight to defend Indiana’s immigration law have asked a federal judge for permission to intervene in the case.

Republican Sens. Mike Delph of Carmel, Phil Boots of Crawfordsville and Brent Steele of Bedford were authors of a law that aimed to make it easier for local police to arrest illegal immigrants, put new penalties on companies that hire illegal workers and make it illegal for a company or agency to accept a foreign identification card as official ID.

Much of that law — known as Senate Bill 590 before it passed — has been put on hold as a federal court determines whether its provisions are constitutional. The senators say in a legal brief filed this week that their intervention in the case is necessary to ensure the court hears complete arguments.

“The senators will defend against the claims that any part of SB 590 conflicts with the United States Constitution or federal immigration law and will explain why the provisions of SB 590 at issue in this case are consistent with Supreme Court precedent,” the senators’ brief reads.

Zoeller, a Republican, has been defending the law.

But in July — based on a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on a similar Arizona law —Zoeller recommended that the federal judge strike down three of the four warrantless arrest provisions of the Indiana law. The exception is a provision that mirrors existing law that allows local police to confine someone on a detainer for 48 hours at a federal agency’s request.

Zoeller said at the time that key parts of Indiana’s law “cannot be defended” under the Supreme Court’s ruling.

“The Supreme Court made clear that immigration enforcement is a federal government responsibility,” Zoeller said.

Zoeller’s spokesman, Bryan Corbin, said Thursday that the attorney general’s office “solely represents the state in legal challenges.”

“We vigorously defended Senate Enrolled Act 590 in federal court,” he said. “Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that warrantless arrest provisions of such laws are unconstitutional, we had a duty to notify the federal court while continuing to defend the portions of the law that are defensible. It is up to the court as to whether to allow others to intervene at this point.”

In their court filing, Delph, Boots and Steele said the court should allow them to intervene to ensure that core immigration and constitutional issues the attorney general no longer intends to defend “are zealously briefed and preserved for appellate review.”

The senators have asked the court to hear oral arguments on their request.

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