SB 1070 status check provision ready for enforcement, new challenges
As-applied challenges to the so-called “show me your papers” provision Arizona’s immigration law SB 1070 may soon start making their way through the courts.
A federal judge this week denied a request to impose a new injunction against the law’s enforcement, and instead called on the Department of Justice and Arizona state officials to come up with wording for an order lifting the current injunction by the end of next week, the Arizona Republic reports.
The provision, which requires police to take steps to ascertain the citizenship status of individuals who are stopped, withstood Supreme Court a challenge by the federal government, which had argued that the state law was preempted by federal immigration law.
The Court struck down several provisions of the law, but the status-check provision survived the challenge. Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, however, all but invited as-applied challenges to the statute once it goes into effect, meaning the justices could revisit the statute in the future.
