Dean Johnson Comments on Supreme Court Immigration Case for Southern California Public Radio, Colorlines, Hunstville Times
Dean Kevin R. Johnson commented for media including Southern California Public Radio, Colorlines, and the Hunstville Times on the upcoming U.S. Supreme Court hearings regarding SB 1070, Arizona's controversial immigration law. The law inspired similar measures in other states, but before it was implemented in July of last year, a federal judge in Arizona blocked some of SB 1070′s main provisions. That decision was upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, prompting Arizona to seek review in the Supreme Court.
"Technically, the Court will be reviewing the Ninth Circuit's affirmance of a district court injunction barring four sections of SB 1070 from going into effect," Dean Johnson said in an interview with Southern California Public Radio Station KPCC. "As a practical matter, the court will be reviewing the same federal preemption arguments that were raised in the district court and Ninth Circuit."
"The Court will decide whether, at this stage of the litigation, SB 1070 is preempted by federal law," he added. "This is a constitutional law question under the Supremacy Clause that makes federal law the supreme law of the land. Thus, a constitutional question is at the core of this case. The Court could duck it but probably, in my view, won't."
“This case has the potential for being one of the biggest immigration cases decided by the Supreme Court ever,” Dean Johnson commented for Colorlines. “It touches on immigration. It touches on civil rights. It touches on state and federal power. And it’s got a real cast of characters too.”
Kevin R. Johnson is Dean and Mabie-Apallas Professor of Public Interest Law and Chicana/o studies at UC Davis School of Law. He is an internationally recognized scholar in the fields of immigration law and policy, refugee law, and civil rights.