Supreme Court Agrees to Review Arizona Employer Sanctions Law in ACLU Case

The U.S. Supreme Court today accepted for
review Chamber of Commerce v.
Candelaria, a case challenging an Arizona statute imposing severe
state sanctions on employers who allegedly hire immigrants not
authorized to work in the United States. The American Civil Liberties
Union represents certain petitioners in the case, including the
community organizations Chicanos Por La Causa and Somos America.

The ACLU argued in the case that the
law conflicts with federal law and the Supremacy Clause of the
Constitution. The U.S. Department of Justice filed a brief supporting
the view that the court of appeals erred in upholding this statute and
that the Arizona statute conflicted with federal law.

The following can
be attributed to Lucas Guttentag, Director of the ACLU Immigrants'
Rights Project:

"We are pleased that the Supreme
Court has decided to consider the constitutionality of Arizona's
discriminatory state employer sanctions law. It is a clear signal that
other cities and states should not rely on the appeals court decision
now under review as the basis for pursuing similar laws that conflict
with federal statutes and subject workers to race and national origin
discrimination."