A federal judge has handed the Justice Department a partial victory by blocking portions of Arizona’s illegal-immigration law that was set to go into effect tomorrow. Susan Bolton, a U.S. District Judge appointed by Bill Clinton, has put an injunction on the sections of the law that would have required police to seek proof of someone’s immigration status during the course of investigating a crime if they had reason for suspicion, required immigrants to carry their papers at all times, and forbid illegal immigrants from seeking day-labor work in public places. These provisions were found to preempt the federal government’s responsibilities of enforcing the nation’s immigration laws. This doesn’t mean the fight over the law is over CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin suspects this is “very much destined for the United States Supreme Court.”
Judge blocks controversial parts of Ariz. law [AP via MSNBC]
