Lawsuit against Arizona filed in federal court

It is now official. The U.S. Department of Justice has just filed a request against the state of Arizona to stop the implementation of SB1070.

The lawsuit, filed today in federal court in Phoenix, alleges the following three causes of action:

1. SB1070 violates the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution because the bill represents an impermissible effort to establish its own immigration laws and directly regulate the immigration status of aliens, which is prohibited by the Article VI, Section 2 of the Constitution.

2. SB1070 is superseded by existing U.S. federal immigration and foreign policy laws.

3. The law violates the Commerce Clause of the Constitution because it restricts the interstate movement of persons in a manner that is prohibited by the Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution.

The federal government requests that the court declare SB1070 invalid, null and void. It also seeks a preliminary and permanent injunction against the state of Arizona, its officers, agents and employees from enforcing SB1070.