An appeals court in San Francisco will hear both sides of the debate over Arizona’s controversial anti-immigrant measure later today in deciding whether to uphold a federal judge’s ruling from July that blocked certain provisions of the law.
In July, U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton temporarily blocked some of the of the most controversial parts of the law from going into effect just a day before the law was to be enacted, including the requirement that police officers check a person’s immigration status while enforcing other laws.
Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer vowed to be present today, a day before she is up for re-election, to hear whether the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals will overturn Bolton’s ruling.
“I will personally attend this hearing on behalf of the overwhelming majority of citizens who support the rule of law,” Brewer said earlier this month.
The law has raised concerns that it may lead to racial profiling against Latinos and that it is anti-Hispanic. Several groups including the Mexican government and the city of Tucson have filed briefs supporting the Justice Department’s side.
Other parts of the law were allowed to go into effect in July. These include a ban on so-called “sanctuary cities” and a provision that makes it illegal to hire day laborers if doing so impedes traffic.
“I wrote this bill for that fistfight, prepared for that fistfight,” State Sen. Russell Pearce, the sponsor of the law, said. “We’ll prevail in the fistfight, because it’s states’ rights.”
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