AZ Immigration Law Partially Struck Down, But Section 2B Stands for Now

The US Supreme Court today struck down most of Arizona’s SB 1070 immigration law, but upheld section 2B, which allows police to check an arrestee’s immigration status if there is reasonable suspicion that that person is in the country illegally. The other sections struck down were found to be trumped by already existing federal law. Here is the court’s opinion.

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As for section 2B of the law, the Supreme Court handed it back to the 9th Circuit, which had struck that provision down. Writing in dissent, Associate Justice Antonin Scalia would have upheld Arizona’s law entirely. Justice Anthony Kennedy authored the majority opinion.

The Arizona ruling was today’s last ruling, so we’ll have to wait for the ObamaCare ruling on Thursday.

More: Today’s decision leaves the most controversial provision of SB 1070 in place, which is the section empowering local police to inquire about immigration status. That is the section that other Georgia and Alabama and other states have emulated in their immigration laws. The sections struck down had to do with banning illegal aliens from seeking work, mandating immigrants to carry their visas with them at all times, and penalizing employers of illegal aliens. The court ruled that existing federal laws already deal with those issues. The vote to uphold Section 2B was 8-0 with Kagan recusing herself.

Related: Gallup: Registered Hispanic Voters Put Other Issues Ahead of Immigration Policy

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