Part of Arizona Law Might Be Upheld
The LA Times reports:
A federal appeals court, reviewing Arizona's tough new immigration law while protestors outside shouted and waved signs, suggested during a hearing Monday that the state may be permitted to require police to investigate the immigration status of suspected criminals and yet be powerless to do anything about a person's illegal residency.
During an hourlong hearing, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals examined four provisions of the Arizona law that a federal judge in Phoenix blocked as unconstitutional. The three-judge appeals panel appeared largely inclined to agree with the lower court's July ruling, which said the law usurped the federal government's sole authority to regulate immigration.
But the panel expressed skepticism about the part of the ruling that blocked the state from requiring police to at least investigate the immigration status of someone stopped on suspicion of a crime.
After a lawyer for the federal government told the court the provision was illegal, a frustrated Judge John T. Noonan Jr., a moderate Republican appointee, noted that federal law permits police to inquire about a person's immigration status.
On that score, "you don't have an argument," the judge told the lawyer for the Obama administration.
