l****z 发帖数: 29846 | 1 Justice Kagan Recuses Herself From Case Involving Arizona Immigration Law
By MARK SHERMAN, Associated Press
December 12, 2011
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court agreed Monday to rule on Arizona's
controversial law targeting illegal immigrants, setting the stage for an
election-year decision on an issue that is already shaping presidential
politics.
The justices said they will review a federal appeals court ruling that
blocked several tough provisions in the Arizona law. One of those requires
that police, while enforcing other laws, question a person's immigration
status if officers suspect he is in the country illegally.
The Obama administration challenged the Arizona law by arguing that
regulating immigration is the job of the federal government, not states.
Similar laws in Alabama, South Carolina and Utah also are facing
administration lawsuits. Private groups are suing over immigration measures
adopted in Georgia and Indiana.
The court now has three politically charged cases on its election-year
calendar. The other two are President Barack Obama's health care overhaul
and new electoral maps for Texas' legislature and congressional delegation.
Justice Elena Kagan will not take part in the Arizona case, presumably
because of her work on the issue when she served in the Justice Department.
Arguments probably will take place in late April, which would give the court
roughly two months to decide the case.
Some 12 million illegal immigrants are believed to live in the United States
, and the issue already is becoming a factor in the 2012 campaign.
Republican Sen. John McCain said recently that large Hispanic populations in
his home state of Arizona and elsewhere are listening carefully to what
Republican candidates have to say on immigration.
The immigration case before the Supreme Court stems from the Obama
administration's furious legal fight against a patchwork of state laws
targeting illegal immigrants.
Arizona wants the justices to allow the state to begin enforcing measures
that have been blocked by lower courts at the administration's request.
The state says that the federal government isn't doing enough to address
illegal immigration and that border states are suffering disproportionately.
In urging the court to hear the immigration case, Arizona says the
administration's contention that states "are powerless to use their own
resources to enforce federal immigration standards without the express
blessing of the federal executive goes to the heart of our nation's system
of dual sovereignty and cooperative federalism."
Many other state and local governments have taken steps aimed at reducing
the effects of illegal immigration, the state says.
But the administration argues that the various legal challenges making their
way through the system provide a reason to wait and see how other courts
rule.
Gov. Jan Brewer signed the immigration measure, S.B. 1070, into law in April
2010. The administration sued in July to block the law from taking effect.
In April, a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in
San Francisco upheld a federal judge's ruling halting enforcement of several
provisions of the Arizona law. Among the blocked provisions: requiring all
immigrants to obtain or carry immigration registration papers; making it a
state criminal offense for an illegal immigrant to seek work or hold a job;
and allowing police to arrest suspected illegal immigrants without a warrant.
In October, the federal appeals court in Atlanta blocked parts of the
Alabama law that forced public schools to check the immigration status of
students and allowed police to file criminal charges against people who are
unable to prove their citizenship.
Lawsuits in South Carolina and Utah are not as far along.
The case is Arizona v. U.S., 11-182. |
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