Court to Hear Challenge to Arizona SB 1070

United States v. Arizona, 641 F.3d 339 (9th Cir. 2011), cert. granted sub nom., Arizona v. United States (Dec. 12, 2011) (No. 11-182)

The Supreme Court has granted certiorari in the legal challenge arising from the federal government's suit against Arizona SB 1070. The Ninth Circuit upheld a temporary injunction against four of the law's provisions. Two of the provisions requires state officers to arrest and investigate suspected unlawfully present noncitizens in certain circumstances, while two others create additional penalties under state law for engaging in activities that are prohibited under federal immigration law, such as engaging in work without employment authorization and failing to obtain or carry registration documents.

The question presented is:

Arizona enacted the Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act (S.B. 1070) to address the illegal immigration crisis in the State. The four provisions of S.B. 1070 enjoined by the courts below authorize and direct state law-enforcement officers to cooperate and communicate with federal officials regarding the enforcement of federal immigration law and impose penalties under state law for non-compliance with federal immigration requirements. The question presented is whether the federal immigration laws preclude Arizona's efforts at cooperative law enforcement and impliedly preempt these four provisions of S.B. 1070 on their face.