A few weeks ago we introduced you to the potential law that had illegal immigrants in Georgia terrified to continue living here. We now have an update on that story, courtesy of the AJC.
A federal judge in Atlanta could decide the immediate fate of Georgia’s tough new anti-illegal immigration law today and trigger a chain of additional legal challenges that legal observers say could reach all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
U.S. District Judge Thomas Thrash has scheduled a 10 a.m. hearing for several civil and immigrant rights groups to make their case for halting Georgia’s law.
The American Civil Liberties Union, National Immigration Law Center and others argue the law is unconstitutional and are asking Thrash to put the law on hold pending the outcome of a lawsuit they have filed to block it.
Thrash is also planning to hear a request from Republican state Attorney General Sam Olens to dismiss the ACLU’s lawsuit. Olens’ office argues the state and U.S. constitutions grant Georgia immunity from such lawsuits.
Thrash, who was nominated to the court by President Bill Clinton, recently indicated he could immediately issue his decisions Monday after telling attorneys in the case that he has been known to rule from the bench.
Whoever loses after Monday’s hearings is expected to appeal to the 11thU.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta. The case could eventually make its way to the U.S. Supreme Court along with other legal challenges targeting similar laws in Arizona and Utah, said R. Keegan Federal Jr., one of the attorneys who is seeking to halt Georgia’s law.
“I do fully expect this one to end up there” at the U.S. Supreme Court, said Federal, a former DeKalb County Superior Court judge. “But I don’t think it will end up there all by itself.”
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