SB1070 Faces Federal Lawsuit Today: Judge Has Upheld Federal Jurisdiction Twice Before

Today, an Arizona District Judge will hear oral arguments in the federal law suit against SB1070.

District Judge Susan Bolton will be presiding over the case. Jacques Billeaud from the Associated Press has an article up on Judge Bolton.

Judge Bolton has had substantial experience working on immigration issues:

Susan Bolton sentenced a Mexican smuggler to 16 years in prison for leading 14 illegal immigrants to their death in the broiling Arizona desert.

She decided in 2002 that Border Patrol officials had legal immunity and couldn't be sued for their part in a 1997 immigrant roundup that led to 430 arrests and drew complaints that Hispanics who were U.S. citizens were harassed because of their appearance.

However Judge Bolton has upheld federal jurisdiction over state law twice before:

Bolton has ruled in two cases unrelated to immigration that federal law trumps state law.

In 2008, Bolton threw out a claim by a woman who alleged her employer broke a federal law on overtime pay. The woman made the claim under federal law but sought more generous damages under a state law dictating when an employee is to be paid. The judge threw out her claim under state law.

Three years earlier, in a lawsuit from a woman who claimed she was harmed by taking a cold medicine, Bolton ruled that a state law immunizing drug makers from most punitive damages in product liability cases was superseded by federal law.

Judge Bolton will only hear the beginning of oral arguments. It is very likely that a decision on a federal injunction to stop the law from going into effect may come as early as next week.