[JURIST] Lawyers for Arizona Governor Jan Brewer and the US Department of Justice (DOJ) on Monday presented Judge Susan Bolton of the US District Court for the District of Arizona [official websites] with a joint filing suggesting wording for a court order permitting police to enforce the provision of the state’s immigration law [SB 1070, PDF] requiring law enforcement officials to check the immigration status of suspects. Bolton had initially enjoined several provisions [JURIST report] of SB 1070 in July 2010, including this provision. Although striking down [JURIST report] several provisions of the law, the US Supreme Court upheld the provision requiring police to check immigration status, clearing the way for Bolton to uphold [JURIST report] the law last week after a request for preliminary injunction. Attorneys for Brewer and the federal government have agreed [AP report] that the initial 2010 order blocking enforcement should be lifted once Bolton signs a new order.

Immigration law [JURIST backgrounder] has became a hot button issue as many states, Arizona being the first, have passed laws giving state and local officials more power to police illegal immigration. In August the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit [official website] struck down [JURIST report] several provisions of Alabama’s controversial immigration law [HB 56, PDF], upheld a few sections of the law and rejected part of Georgia’s immigration law [HB 87, text]. That same month, the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit [official website] heard arguments [JURIST report] on two anti-illegal immigrant laws enacted in 2006 by the city of Hazleton, Pennsylvania, which deny permits to businesses that employ illegal immigrants and fine landlords who extend housing to them. In July a judge for the US District Court for the District of South Carolina [official website] declined to lift an injunction [JURIST report] against South Carolina’s controversial immigration law [SB 20 materials], despite the Supreme Court’s ruling in Arizona v. United States.