Arizona appeals ruling that bars parts of the state’s immigration law
Arizona is seeking to expedite its appeal of a federal Ninth Circuit Court ruling from last week that bars parts of the state’s controversial immigration law, S.B. 1070, from going into effect until a final court decision is reached in the federal government’s lawsuit against the state that seeks to overturn the law. “Congress and the president have once again failed to act,” Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer said in a statement outlining the state’s appeal.
On July 28, U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton blocked the part of the law that would require law enforcement officers to determine the immigration status of people they believe are in the country illegally, a clause that requires legal aliens to carry their proof of residency with them at all times, and the section that makes it illegal for undocumented workers to solicit employment in public places. In response, Arizona filed a Notice of Appeal and Motion for Expedited Briefing and Hearing Schedule with the Ninth Circuit that asks the court to establish a timeline that would have the state file a substantive brief on Aug. 12, the United States file its response brief on Aug. 26, and the state file its reply brief on Sept. 2. “I have asked the Ninth Circuit to schedule oral arguments on the appeal the week of Sept. 13 and to expedite its ruling,” Brewer said.
Brewer goes on in the statement to say that, “America is not going to sit back and allow the ongoing federal failures to continue.” “We are a nation of laws, and we believe they need to be enforced,” the governor says. “If the federal government wants to be in charge of illegal immigration and they want no help from states, it then needs to do its job. Arizona would not be faced with this problem if the federal government honored its responsibilities.”
Bolton, in her ruling, says the federal government could “suffer irreparable harm” if she did not enjoin parts of S.B. 1070 from going into effect as scheduled last week. The judge says the enjoined sections of S.B. 1070 placed too much burden on legal immigrants “because their liberty will be restricted while their status is checked.” “Given the large number of people who are technically ‘arrested’ but never booked into jail or perhaps even transported to a law enforcement facility, detention time for this category of arrestee will certainly be extended during an immigration status verification,” Bolton wrote. “Under Section 2(B) of S.B. 1070, all arrestees will be required to prove their immigration status to the satisfaction of state authorities, thus increasing the intrusion of police presence into the lives of legally-present aliens (and even United States citizens), who will necessarily be swept up by this requirement.”
Also, Bolton wrote that the increase in requests for immigration status confirmation from the state as a result of the law would “impermissibly burden federal resources and redirect federal agencies away from the priorities they have established.”
Download Bolton’s decision, as well as Brewer’s statement and other documents filed by the state in defense of S.B. 1070.
