Plaintiffs want Alabama immigration law challenge to move forward, Alabama wants to wait for U.S. Supreme Court

By Brian Lawson
on January 02, 2013 at 4:23 PM, updated January 02, 2013 at 4:35 PM
al.com


Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley is flanked by Sen. Scott Beason, R-Gardendale, left, and Micky Hammon, R-Decatur, right, as he speaks before signing into law what critics and supporters are calling the strongest bill in the nation cracking down on illegal immigration, on Thursday June 9, 2011 at the state Capitol in Montgomery, Ala. (AP Photo/Montgomery Advertiser, Mickey Welsh)

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama -- Plaintiffs suing Alabama over its immigration law want the case to move forward, but the State of Alabama wants to wait until March, as it weighs an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The filing does not indicate if Alabama will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn injunctions by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals that blocked Alabama's immigration law provisions that required immigration status checks for new public school students, blocked Alabama's ban on contracts with illegal immigrants and barred the state from criminalizing harboring and transport of illegal immigrants.

The harboring and contracts provisions were blocked by the appeals court stemming from a lawsuit brought by the U.S. Department of Justice.

The schools provision ban was included in a ruling in the case involving the group of plaintiffs.

An appeal to the appeal court ruling in the U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit has to be filed with the U.S. Supreme Court by Jan. 15.

The other lawsuit filed by 36 plaintiffs and led by the Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama and includes labor unions, interest groups and individuals. An appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court in that case must be filed by Feb. 25.

The joint status report filing requested by the U.S. District Court in Birmingham was submitted Monday.

The HICA plaintiffs contend in the filing that further delay only increases injury already caused by Alabama's far-reaching immigration law. The law was passed in 2011 and amended last year.

The 11th Circuit did not block the law's provisions requiring law enforcement to engage in immigration status checks during traffic stops and other police contact and said a person can be detained during an immigration status check.

The HICA plaintiffs told the court they plan to use the discovery process to determine how the immigration law, known as HB56, is being carried out in Alabama.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June in the Arizona immigration law case that immigration policy and enforcement is primarily the job of the federal government. But the court also found that local police can play a role in immigration law enforcement.

The court left open the questions of how long a person can lawfully be detained and investigated and the HICA plaintiffs said they want to use that framework in looking at the effects of Alabama's law.

They argue that there has been no indication if Alabama will seek a U.S. Supreme Court appeal and no way of knowing if the court will agree to hear it.

They oppose Alabama's requested delay until mid-March, arguing that the Supreme Court wouldn't be able to take up the case until the October 2013 term.

The plaintiffs propose filing an amended complaint 21 days after the U.S. District Court in Birmingham lifts the stay in the case. Then, Alabama would have 30 days to reply to that filing.

Alabama wants the appeals proceedings to be "definitively concluded" before moving forward. They recommend reporting back to the court on or before March 11, 14 days after the deadline for the Supreme Court to grant "cert," -- word that it will hear the case.

Alabama notes in the filing that it decided to sum up its position "succinctly" for the court, but if U.S. District Judge Sharon Lovelace Blackburn wants a longer explanation of its reasoning, the state will provide it.

One Old Vet

Plaintiffs want Alabama immigration law challenge to move forward, Alabama wants to wait for U.S. Supreme Court | al.com