High Court Appears Poised To Uphold Arizona Workers Immigration Law

Much of the initial coverage on the Arizona's Legal Workers Act, Supereme Court Case focused on the strange bedfellows created to defend the legislation. Now as the Supreme Court approaches its verdict many are saying that they will uphold the immigration law which requires local prosecutors to investigate complaints about undocumented immigrant workers, then to file suit in state court to suspend employers business licenses

Ashby Jones of The Wall Street Journal has the full story HERE:

....heading out of the argument, the story has shifted to the case’s probable outcome: that the law would survive the constitutional challenge. According to Bravin, several justices on Wednesday rejected claims that the state exceeded the limited powers Congress left it to enforce immigration policies. Click here for Bravin’s story; here for commentary from Scotusblog’s Lyle Denniston.

Those challenging the Arizona law cite previous federal immigration laws as establishing domain over this particular area of legislation:

Those challenging the law say the Arizona measure violates the 1986 federal Immigration Reform and Control Act, whereby federal regulations supersede any “state or local law imposing civil or criminal sanctions (other than through licensing and similar laws).” But that argument got little traction. “You read the definition of ‘license’ in the Administrative Procedure Act and this is awfully close,” said Justice Stephen Breyer. Chief Justice John Roberts said Congress provided states additional “wiggle room” by writing “not just ‘licensing laws,’ but ‘licensing and similar laws.”‘

There are two wild cards in all this, the first being Justice Scalia who has suddenly become an immigration expert (read seething sarcasm here):

Furthermore, Justice Antonin Scalia said that whatever Congress had in mind when adopting the 1986 law, current conditions along the border could justify the harsh sanctions Arizona adopted in 2007. Border states are in “serious trouble financially and for other reasons because of unrestrained immigration,” he said, and wouldn’t “have to resort to such massive measures” if federal immigration law “had been vigorously enforced.”

The other issue is Elena Kagen who has removed herself from the process, because she was actively involved in the earlier stages of the Obama administrations case against the law. Absent her vote, the justices could split 4-4 on this legislation which would leave the law intact but would not create a precedent one way or the other over federal domain on immigration issues.

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