Justices to Weigh Arizona’s Anti-Immigrant SB 1070 on April 25
Arizona will get its last legal shot this spring to finally enforce all of its 2-year-old immigration law.
On Friday the U.S. Supreme Court set April 25 to hear arguments by attorneys for the state that everything in SB 1070 is legal and within the state’s power to enact. That contention already has been rebuffed twice, once by U.S. District Court Judge Susan Bolton, who blocked the state from implementing key provisions of the 2010 law, and then by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
It likely will be months before the justices actually rule. But whatever they decide will have nationwide implications, as several states already have enacted similar laws.
Hanging in the balance are several sections of the statute, including:
• Requiring a police officer to make a reasonable attempt to check the immigration status of those they have stopped.
• Forbidding police to release anyone they have arrested until that person’s immigration status is determined.
• Making it a violation of Arizona law for anyone not a citizen to fail to carry federally issued documentation.
• Allowing police to make warrantless arrests if there is a belief the person has committed an offense that allows them to be removed from the United States.
• Creating a new state crime of trying to secure work while not a legal resident.
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Only eight justices will take part. Elena Kagan will not because of her former role as solicitor general in the Obama administration. That means a 4-4 tie would leave intact Bolton’s ruling and the 9th Circuit decision upholding it.
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