Arizona will appeal directly to the US Supreme Court in a bid to overturn an injunction blocking key parts of the state’s controversial immigration law, state officials announced today.
Gov. Jan Brewer said she and Attorney General Tom Horne had decided to take the case directly to the nation’s highest court, asking it to examine whether US District Judge Susan Bolton acted correctly when she issued her injunction in Phoenix last summer.
A three-judge panel of the Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the injunction on April 11. Arizona could ask all active judges on the Ninth Circuit to rehear the appeal, but state officials decided it would be faster to take the case directly to the Supreme Court. Expect another showdown.
The Arizona law, known as SB 1070, required state and local police during a valid stop to check the immigration status of anyone they suspected might be in the US illegally.
Opponents complained that it could lead to racial profiling.
The law also required immigrants to carry federal immigration papers, made it illegal for undocumented immigrants to work in Arizona, and authorized warrantless arrests of anyone who had committed a deportable offense.
We will keep you posted.