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(Slip Opinion) OCTOBER TERM, 2011
Syllabus
NOTE: Where it is feasible, a syllabus (headnote) will be released, as isbeing done in connection with this case, at the time the opinion is issued.The syllabus constitutes no part of the opinion of the Court but has beenprepared by the Reporter of Decisions for the convenience of the reader. See United States v. Detroit Timber & Lumber Co., 200 U. S. 321, 337.
SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
Syllabus
ARIZONA ET AL. v. UNITED STATES
CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
No. 11–182. Argued April 25, 2012—Decided June 25, 2012
An Arizona statute known as S. B. 1070 was enacted in 2010 to address pressing issues related to the large number of unlawful aliens in the State. The United States sought to enjoin the law as preempted. The District Court issued a preliminary injunction preventing four of its provisions from taking effect. Section 3 makes failure to comply with federal alien-registration requirements a state misdemeanor; §5(C)makes it a misdemeanor for an unauthorized alien to seek or engage in work in the State; §6 authorizes state and local officers to arrest without a warrant a person “the officer has probable cause to believe . . . has committed any public offense that makes the person removable from the United States”; and §2(B) requires officers conducting a stop, detention, or arrest to make efforts, in some circumstances, toverify the person’s immigration status with the Federal Government. The Ninth Circuit affirmed, agreeing that the United States had established a likelihood of success on its preemption claims.
Held:
1. The Federal Government’s broad, undoubted power over immigration and alien status rests, in part, on its constitutional power to“establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization,” Art. I, §8, cl. 4, and onits inherent sovereign power to control and conduct foreign relations, see Toll v. Moreno, 458 U. S. 1, 10. Federal governance is extensive and complex. Among other things, federal law specifies categories ofaliens who are ineligible to be admitted to the United States, 8
U. S. C. §1182; requires aliens to register with the Federal Government and to carry proof of status, §§1304(e), 1306(a); imposes sanctions on employers who hire unauthorized workers, §1324a; and specifies which aliens may be removed and the procedures for doing so, see §1227. Removal is a civil matter, and one of its principal features
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Syllabus
is the broad discretion exercised by immigration officials, who must decide whether to pursue removal at all. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), an agency within the Department of Homeland Security, is responsible for identifying, apprehending, and removing illegal aliens. It also operates the Law Enforcement Support Center,which provides immigration status information to federal, state, andlocal officials around the clock. Pp. 2–7.
2.
The Supremacy Clause gives Congress the power to preempt state law. A statute may contain an express preemption provision, see, e.g., Chamber of Commerce of United States of America v. Whiting, 563 U. S. ___, ___, but state law must also give way to federal law in at least two other circumstances. First, States are precluded from regulating conduct in a field that Congress has determinedmust be regulated by its exclusive governance. See Gade v. National Solid Wastes Management Assn., 505 U. S. 88, 115. Intent can be inferred from a framework of regulation “so pervasive . . . that Congress left no room for the States to supplement it” or where a “federalinterest is so dominant that the federal system will be assumed topreclude enforcement of state laws on the same subject.” Rice v. Santa Fe Elevator Corp., 331 U. S. 218, 230. Second, state laws are preempted when they conflict with federal law, including when theystand “as an obstacle to the accomplishment and execution of the full purposes and objectives of Congress.” Hines v. Davidowitz, 312 U. S. 52, 67. Pp. 7–8.
3.
Sections 3, 5(C), and 6 of S. B. 1070 are preempted by federal law. Pp. 8–19.
(a)
Section 3 intrudes on the field of alien registration, a field inwhich Congress has left no room for States to regulate. In Hines, a state alien-registration program was struck down on the ground that Congress intended its “complete” federal registration plan to be a “single integrated and all-embracing system.” 312 U. S., at 74. That scheme did not allow the States to “curtail or complement” federallaw or “enforce additional or auxiliary regulations.” Id., at 66–67. The federal registration framework remains comprehensive. Because Congress has occupied the field, even complementary state regulationis impermissible. Pp. 8–11.
(b)
Section 5(C)’s criminal penalty stands as an obstacle to the federal regulatory system. The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA), a comprehensive framework for “combating the employment of illegal aliens,” Hoffman Plastic Compounds, Inc. v. NLRB, 535 U. S. 137, 147, makes it illegal for employers to knowingly hire, recruit, refer, or continue to employ unauthorized workers, 8
U.
S. C. §§1324a(a)(1)(A), (a)(2), and requires employers to verify prospective employees’ employment authorization status,
Cite as: 567 U. S. ____ (2012) 3
Syllabus
§§1324a(a)(1)(B), (b). It imposes criminal and civil penalties on employers, §§1324a(e)(4), (f), but only civil penalties on aliens who seek, or engage in, unauthorized employment, e.g., §§1255(c)(2), (c)(8).IRCA’s express preemption provision, though silent about whether additional penalties may be imposed against employees, “does not bar the ordinary working of conflict pre-emption principles” or impose a “special burden” making it more difficult to establish the preemptionof laws falling outside the clause. Geier v. American Honda Motor Co., 529 U. S. 861, 869–872. The correct instruction to draw from the text, structure, and history of IRCA is that Congress decided it would be inappropriate to impose criminal penalties on unauthorized employees. It follows that a state law to the contrary is an obstacle tothe regulatory system Congress chose. Pp. 12–15.
(c) By authorizing state and local officers to make warrantless arrests of certain aliens suspected of being removable, §6 too createsan obstacle to federal law. As a general rule, it is not a crime for aremovable alien to remain in the United States. The federal scheme instructs when it is appropriate to arrest an alien during the removal process. The Attorney General in some circumstances will issue awarrant for trained federal immigration officers to execute. If no federal warrant has been issued, these officers have more limited authority. They may arrest an alien for being “in the United States inviolation of any [immigration] law or regulation,” for example, but only where the alien “is likely to escape before a warrant can be obtained.” §1357(a)(2). Section 6 attempts to provide state officers with even greater arrest authority, which they could exercise with no instruction from the Federal Government. This is not the system Congress created. Federal law specifies limited circumstances in which state officers may perform an immigration officer’s functions. This includes instances where the Attorney General has granted that authority in a formal agreement with a state or local government. See, e.g., §1357(g)(1). Although federal law permits state officers to “cooperate with the Attorney General in the identification, apprehension, detention, or removal of aliens not lawfully present in the UnitedStates,” §1357(g)(10)(B), this does not encompass the unilateral decision to detain authorized by §6. Pp. 15–19.
4. It was improper to enjoin §2(B) before the state courts had anopportunity to construe it and without some showing that §2(B)’s enforcement in fact conflicts with federal immigration law and its objectives. Pp. 19–24.
(a) The state provision has three limitations: A detainee is presumed not to be an illegal alien if he or she provides a valid Arizonadriver’s license or similar identification; officers may not consider race, color, or national origin “except to the extent permitted by the
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United States [and] Arizona Constitution”; and §2(B) must be “implemented in a manner consistent with federal law regulating immigration, protecting the civil rights of all persons and respecting the privileges and immunities of United States citizens.” P. 20.
(b)
This Court finds unpersuasive the argument that, even with those limits, §2(B) must be held preempted at this stage. Pp. 20–24.
(1)
The mandatory nature of the status checks does not interfere with the federal immigration scheme. Consultation between federal and state officials is an important feature of the immigration system. In fact, Congress has encouraged the sharing of informationabout possible immigration violations. See §§1357(g)(10)(A), 1373(c). The federal scheme thus leaves room for a policy requiring state officials to contact ICE as a routine matter. Cf. Whiting, 563 U. S., at ___. Pp. 20–21.
(2)
It is not clear at this stage and on this record that §2(B), in practice, will require state officers to delay the release of detaineesfor no reason other than to verify their immigration status. This would raise constitutional concerns. And it would disrupt the federal framework to put state officers in the position of holding aliens incustody for possible unlawful presence without federal direction and supervision. But §2(B) could be read to avoid these concerns. If the law only requires state officers to conduct a status check during the course of an authorized, lawful detention or after a detainee has been released, the provision would likely survive preemption—at least absent some showing that it has other consequences that are adverse tofederal law and its objectives. Without the benefit of a definitive interpretation from the state courts, it would be inappropriate to assume §2(B) will be construed in a way that conflicts with federal law. Cf. Fox v. Washington, 236 U. S. 273, 277. This opinion does not foreclose other preemption and constitutional challenges to the lawas interpreted and applied after it goes into effect. Pp. 22–24.
641 F. 3d 339, affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded.
A second thread on the subject.
http://www.usmessageboard.com/law-and-justice-system/230688-supreme-court-upholds-part-of-arizona-law.html
All we need is about 5 more.
Another article I read said they could check the immigration status of people they arrest, not just stop.
Supreme Court Upholds Key Part of Arizona Law
The court backed a section of the Arizona state law that calls for police to check the immigration status of people they stop.
Supreme Court Upholds Key Part of Arizona Law - WSJ.com
Supreme Court Upholds Key Part of Arizona Immigration Law - WSJ.com
The Supreme Court upheld a key part of Arizona's tough immigration law but struck down others as intrusions on federal sovereignty, in a ruling that gave both sides something to cheer in advance of November elections where immigration is a major issue.
The court backed a section of the Arizona state law that calls for police to check the immigration status of people they stop.
Another article I read said they could check the immigration status of people they arrest, not just stop.
They cannot arrest an illegal just for being here illegally. But they may check his/her immigration status IF they have otherwise lawfully stopped/detained the person.
Another article I read said they could check the immigration status of people they arrest, not just stop.
They cannot arrest an illegal just for being here illegally. But they may check his/her immigration status IF they have otherwise lawfully stopped/detained the person.
yeah, and mistakes will happen. will Arizona citizens and taxpayers support holding more people in jails?
I don't have a problem with that. I assume in such cases the only action they can take is to notify ICE with the information but not hold them for ICE to pick up.Another article I read said they could check the immigration status of people they arrest, not just stop.
They cannot arrest an illegal just for being here illegally. But they may check his/her immigration status IF they have otherwise lawfully stopped/detained the person.
Surprised there's no thread on this. They upheld Arizona's immigration laws. Only complaint was the whole law should have been upheld.
Supreme Court upholds key part of Arizona immigration law, strikes down rest | The Ticket - Yahoo! News
Looking to be a bad month for Obama&Co.
I don't have a problem with that. I assume in such cases the only action they can take is to notify ICE with the information but not hold them for ICE to pick up.Another article I read said they could check the immigration status of people they arrest, not just stop.
They cannot arrest an illegal just for being here illegally. But they may check his/her immigration status IF they have otherwise lawfully stopped/detained the person.
Show me the damn papers stands but not a crime if not had but if you do not have them is reasonable suspicion that you are illegal and can be arrested and turned over to ICE for deportation as seeen fit. Even tho they do not have to deport, arizona should flood the department with illegals they deem suspicious.
Arizona don't need any more to get the job done. Sheriff Joe can contiune to arrest and turn over to ICE.
OT:
I think the interesting part of this decision is how the Court parsed the legislation.
I see it as a portent of what is likely to happen to the ObamaCare Act.
Now, more than before, I predict that the individual "mandate" provision is gonna get thrown out.
With that key provision shot to shit, the rest of the Act can be sliced up on other grounds.
For my part, I will consider it a huge defeat for the Administration (and a great gain for the Republic) if the mandate provision is nullified.
I think the mandate will go, but that is an easy fix.
The extent of the fix is going to depend on who the President will next year and just how much of Congress the GOP controls.
OT:
I think the interesting part of this decision is how the Court parsed the legislation.
I see it as a portent of what is likely to happen to the ObamaCare Act.
Now, more than before, I predict that the individual "mandate" provision is gonna get thrown out.
With that key provision shot to shit, the rest of the Act can be sliced up on other grounds.
For my part, I will consider it a huge defeat for the Administration (and a great gain for the Republic) if the mandate provision is nullified.
I think the mandate will go, but that is an easy fix.
The extent of the fix is going to depend on who the President will next year and just how much of Congress the GOP controls.
OT:
I think the interesting part of this decision is how the Court parsed the legislation.
I see it as a portent of what is likely to happen to the ObamaCare Act.
Now, more than before, I predict that the individual "mandate" provision is gonna get thrown out.
With that key provision shot to shit, the rest of the Act can be sliced up on other grounds.
For my part, I will consider it a huge defeat for the Administration (and a great gain for the Republic) if the mandate provision is nullified.
The mandate is far from an easy fix, although I do believe there are rational ways to address the problems involved and reach a Constitutionally valid solution.
And yes, of course, a LOT will turn on how President Romney decides to address it and how many Democrat Senators get bounced out of office in November.
A much easier fix than you suggest. Romney is quite sensible on this issue, and has demonstrated no animus toward BHO's executive order about children brought here.
I suspect MR will introduce a very extensive and solid immigration reform bill.
