Arizona v. United States
Issues
Can Arizona engage in cooperative enforcement of federal immigration laws and create state offenses for violations of federal immigration regulations?
In 2010, Arizona enacted the Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act, which creates state immigration offenses and expands local police officers’ immigration law enforcement authority. The United States sued Arizona in federal district court, arguing the state law was preempted by federal law, and sought a preliminary injunction to prevent the state law from taking effect. The district court granted a preliminary injunction with respect to four provisions of the Arizona law and the Ninth Circuit affirmed. Petitioners, the State of Arizona and the Governor of Arizona, Janice K. Brewer, argue that federal law does not preempt its statute because Arizona’s statute merely creates a formal cooperative relationship between federal and state officers to implement federal laws. Respondent, the United States, asserts that implementation of the statute would infringe upon the Executive Branch’s exclusive authority to regulate immigration, and is therefore invalid.
Questions as Framed for the Court by the Parties
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.
The state of Arizona maintains that it faced rampant illegal immigration, which increased crime and harmed Arizona’s economy. See Brief for Petitioners, State of Arizona and Janice K.
Edited by
Additional Resources
Robert Barnes, The Washington Post: Supreme Court to Hear Challenge to Arizona’s Immigration Law (Dec. 12, 2011)
Adam Liptak, N.Y. Times: Court to Weigh Arizona Statute on Immigration (Dec. 12, 2011)
Constitutional Law Prof Blog: Supreme Court to Hear Arizona S.B. 1070 on Preemption Issue (Dec. 12, 2011)