Justices Uphold
Law Penalizing Hiring of Illegal Immigrants
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: May 26, 2011 at 10:55 AM ET - New York Times
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has sustained Arizona's law that
penalizes businesses for hiring workers who are in the United States illegally,
rejecting arguments that states have no role in immigration
matters.
By a 5-3 vote, the court said Thursday that federal immigration law gives
states the authority to impose sanctions on employers who hire unauthorized
workers.
The decision upholding the validity of the 2007 law comes as the state is
appealing a ruling that blocked key components of a second, more controversial
Arizona immigration enforcement law. Thursday's decision applies only to
business licenses and does not signal how the high court might rule if the other
law comes before it.
Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for a majority made up of
Republican-appointed justices, said the Arizona's employer sanctions law "falls
well within the confines of the authority Congress chose to leave to the
states."
Justices Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor, all
Democratic appointees, dissented. The fourth Democratic appointee, Justice Elena
Kagan, did not participate in the case because she worked on it while serving as
President Barack Obama's solicitor general
Breyer said the Arizona law upsets a balance in federal law between
dissuading employers from hiring illegal workers and ensuring that people are
not discriminated against because they may speak with an accent or look like
they might be immigrants.
Employers "will hesitate to hire those they fear will turn out to lack the
right to work in the United States," he said.
.Business interests and civil liberties groups challenged the law, backed by
the Obama administration.
The measure was signed into law in 2007 by Democrat Janet Napolitano, then
the governor of Arizona and now the administration's Homeland Security
secretary.
The employer sanctions law has been only infrequently used. It was intended
to diminish Arizona's role as the nation's hub for immigrant smuggling by
requiring employers to verify the eligibility of new workers through a federal
database. Employers found to have violated the law can have their business
licenses suspended or revoked.
Lower courts, including the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals, previously upheld the law.
The case is Chamber of Commerce v. Whiting, 09-115.