Supremes Gut Arizona's Immigration Law; Scalia Strikes Down Results of the Civil War

While one of the law's most contentious issues remains unresolved, the 5-3 ruling represented a pretty big win for civil liberties advocates. 

On Monday, the Supreme Court gutted Arizona's controversial immigration law, SB 1070, prompting a notably injudicious outburst from Justice Antonin Scalia.

In a 5-3 decision – Elena Kagan recused herself from the case – the majority ruled that 3 major provisions were unconstitutional under the Supremacy Clause, which holds that when a federal law conflicts with a state law, the former must prevail. The ”Government of the United States has broad, undoubted power over the subject of immigration and the status of aliens," wrote Justice Anthony Kennedy on the behalf of the majority, adding that "the federal power to determine immigration policy is well settled."

The federal government had made a strategic decision not to challenge the law on the basis of the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection or Due Process clauses. Its suit didn't focus primarily on the potential for rampant racial profiling that led to so much controversy around the law in the first place. Instead, the Justice Department argued more narrowly that federal immigration law pre-empted the state's efforts to create its own regulatory scheme.

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