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SD public defense duties shift from counties to state; SCOTUS appears skeptical of restricting government communications with social media companies; Trump lawyers say he can't make bond; new scholarships aim to connect class of 2024 to high-demand jobs.

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The SCOTUS weighs government influence on social media, and who groups like the NRA can do business with. Biden signs an executive order to advance women's health research and the White House tells Israel it's responsible for the Gaza humanitarian crisis.

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Midwest regenerative farmers are rethinking chicken production, Medicare Advantage is squeezing the finances of rural hospitals and California's extreme swing from floods to drought has some thinking it's time to turn rural farm parcels into floodplains.

Legal Challenge Announced to AZ Immigration Law

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Friday, April 30, 2010   

PHOENIX - Arizona's new immigration law is headed for a federal court challenge, and the high-profile opponents of SB 1070 are preparing that challenge based primarily on constitutional grounds.

As Mexican-American Legal Defense and Education Fund President Thomas Saenz puts it, since the law requires police to determine someone's immigration status by considering such factors as race, skin color and language, it amounts to impermissible racial profiling.

"Because SB 1070 would result in widespread, pervasive discrimination on the basis of race and national origin, with irreparable harm dealt to those who are unlawfully arrested under this unconstitutional law."

The law's author, Senator Russell Pearce, says racial profiling is specifically prohibited in the law, and Governor Jan Brewer has declared she will not tolerate racial profiling in Arizona.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) will join the legal challenge to the Arizona law. ACLU State Director Alessandra Soler-Meetze says racial profiling is already taking place in immigration sweeps conducted by Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

"We have dozens of affidavits from U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents who have been swept up in these raids. And so what we will see, and we expect to see, is an increase in those types of incidents."

Soler-Meetze believes the new state law further violates the U.S. Constitution by interfering with the federal government's authority to regulate immigration.

"It's a direct attempt by the State of Arizona to enforce federal immigration laws, which is not permitted by the Constitution."

The ACLU and the Defense Fund plan to seek a federal injunction to prevent the new law from taking effect.



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