ATLANTA—The Attorneys General of Alabama and Georgia asked the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals to wait to hear their appeals of challenges to both states’ immigration laws. They expect the legal questions regarding the state immigration laws will be clarified when the Supreme Court reviews Arizona’s immigration law in 2012.
“The Arizona case will substantially affect many of the legal questions that are critical to Alabama’s appeals pending in the 11th Circuit,” said Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange in a statement.
In both states, a coalition of private groups and individuals filed suit to block implementation of the state immigration bills. The Department of Justice sued Alabama to block its law, but did not sue Georgia. Both states empower local law enforcement to check the immigration status of people the stop, and criminalize the act of aiding or harboring illegal immigrants.
In Alabama, one of the plaintiffs in the suit claimed that criminalizing help for immigrants violated the First Amendment right to freely practice one’s faith without government interference. Alabama’s law, unlike Georgia’s, requires schools to check the immigration status of students. A similar provision in Texas was found unconstitutional in the 1960s.
Attorney General Eric Holder has said that states usurp federal responsibilities if they make laws that affect relationships with foreign countries, among other objections to the laws. Federal courts have blocked some parts of both states’ laws, and both states appealed.
“It is clear that the Supreme Court’s ruling in Arizona’s case will be relevant to the 11th Circuit’s consideration of our appeal,” said Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens in a statement. “We strongly believe that, as the Supreme Court has said before, immigration is a partnership between the states and the federal government, and we hope that the Court will reaffirm that partnership.”
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