AZ Martial Law Gets An Axe Taken To It

Jul 28, 2010

While not completely struck down, US District Judge Susan Bolton blocked enforcement of several portions of the law after ruling they were likely to be found unconstitutional because they pre-empted the federal government’s authority to set immigration law.

Some of the highlights of the temporary injunction:

The judge blocked a requirement that police check the immigration status of criminal suspects whom they had stopped while enforcing other laws.
Among the other parts of the law blocked was a section making it a crime not to carry immigration papers.

Further:

In a temporary injunction, US District Judge Susan Bolton blocked enforcement of several portions of the law after ruling they were likely to be found unconstitutional because they pre-empted the federal government’s authority to set immigration law.

She blocked enforcement of a portion of the law making it a crime for undocumented workers to seek or apply for a job and a portion allowing police to arrest without a warrant people whom they had probable cause to believe had committed a crime for which they could be deported.

The United States was likely to “suffer irreparable harm” if she did not block enforcement of those sections, she wrote.

“Requiring Arizona law enforcement officials and agencies to determine the immigration status of every person who is arrested burdens lawfully present aliens because their liberty will be restricted while their status is checked,” she wrote.

She also wrote that the surge in requests for immigration status checks would force the federal government to shift resources away from its own priorities.

More from the BBC here. Who wants to place bets that Arizona’s martial law gets killed altogether? Anybody??

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