The Mississippi law comes on the heels of other controversial immigration reforms proposed in many states following the Arizona law. Similar legislation has passed in Utah, South Carolina and Indiana [JURIST reports]. Last week the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit heard arguments [JURIST report] to challenge immigration legislation recently passed in Alabama and Georgia, but the court postponed its ruling until after the Supreme Court decides on the Arizona law. In December the Supreme Court granted certiorari to determine whether Arizona's controversial immigration law is preempted by federal law [JURIST report]. In November the US Department of Justice [official website] urged the Supreme Court not to hear [JURIST report] Arizona's appeal. In what many view as an indication of how the Supreme Court may rule, the court ruled in May in Chamber of Commerce v. Whiting [Cornell LII backgrounder] that Arizona's controversial employment-related immigration law is not preempted by the Immigration Reform and Control Act [JURIST report].