Immigration matters // by David B. Palinsky Court rejects expedited handling of Arizona's appeal of injunction

The Ninth U.S.Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco // Source: thefreshscent.com

On Friday, 30 July, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit denied Arizona governor Jan Brewer’s motion seeking expedited handling of the Arizona’s appeal of Judge Susan Bolton’s preliminary injunction enjoining enforcement of many provisions of Arizona’s controversial immigration law.

Arizona’s motion for expedited briefing and hearing schedule stated that the Department of Justice “agrees that the appeal should proceed on an expedited schedule,” but the Obama administration’s response argued that the appeal should be handled under regular procedural rules.

Specifically, the U.S. response stated: “The only effect of the district court’s injunction in this case is to preserve a status quo that has existed for a long period of time, thereby casting doubt on a claim of irreparable harm to the State as of the effective date of the injunction. Accordingly, we oppose the State’s motion …”

Arizona’s opening brief must be filed with the Court no later than 26 August 2010.

The court further ordered that “[t]he Clerk shall not grant any extensions of time to file the briefs absent extraordinary and compelling circumstances” and that the appeal be heard the week of 10 November. Arizona had originally requested that oral arguments be held the week of 13 September.

At a news conference held with U.S. Senator John McCain (R-Arizona) in Glendale, Arizona marking the Defense Department’s decision to deploy new combat jets at Luke Air Force Base, Arizona governor Jan Brewer said she would “absolutely” appeal Judge Susan Bolton’s preliminary injunction enjoining enforcement of parts of Arizona’s controversial immigration law all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Brewer previously called Judge Bolton’s injunction, “a temporary bump in the road.”

Additionally, the Associated Press reports that Brewer is contemplating asking legislative leaders to convene a rare “Special Session” to consider “tweaking” certain provisions of the so-called “Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act.”

On Friday, Brewer’s spokesman, Paul Senseman, said: “The governor believes that the law is constitutional and she is obviously going to pursue the appeal. What she is looking at are legislative improvements that can be made … given the current ruling for an injunction.”

Representative Kyrsten Sinema, an Arizona House minority leader, said, “Why would we help her (Brewer)? This bill is so flawed and clearly a federal judge agrees.” Judge Bolton ruled that the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution preempted Arizona’s effort to enact its own immigration law. Sinema continued, “Here’s the thing about the Supremacy Clause — it’s not much on ‘tweaking,’”

Arizona Senate president Bob Burns indicated, however, that he would need to know more “of the political and legal ramifications” before he could support holding a special session. Senator Russell Pearce, the law’s chief sponsor, on the other hand, said he would only back changes to make the law stronger.

David Palinsky, Homeland Security NewsWire’s legal analyst, is an attorney specializing in immigration cases involving employment-based immigration related to the homeland security, hi-tech, and services sectors