- Law says officers can check immigration status in course of other investigations
- A U.S. district judge cites the Supreme Court's June decision
- Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer praises the ruling
(CNN) -- A federal judge on Wednesday denied a request to block the "show me your papers" provision in Arizona's immigration law, bringing officials one step closer to enforcing one of the most controversial parts of the 2010 measure.
Opponents had argued that new evidence of racial discrimination showed that the judge should block the provision, which allows local law enforcement, when performing other state law enforcement functions, to check on the immigration status of those people they stop for another reason.
But U.S. District Judge Susan R. Bolton denied the request from opponents of the measure to block the provision. She cited the U.S. Supreme Court's June decision that upheld that part of the law.
"Without a set of as-applied facts, the Supreme Court has held that it would be speculative to decide as a matter of law that (the provision) will be enforced in an unconstitutional manner," she wrote.
Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer praised the ruling.
"I applaud the federal court for siding with the U.S. Supreme Court in refusing to block the most critical section of this law, which will empower state and local law enforcement, as part of a legal stop or detention, to inquire about an individual's immigration status when the officer has reasonable suspicion," she said in a statement. "With this provision, Arizona makes a clear statement that it will not tolerate sanctuary city policies, and will now have thousands of additional officers to collaborate with the federal government as state and local law enforcement do what they always have: enforce the law."
