Kagan’s recusal creates possibility of tie vote

The last oral argument of the U.S. Supreme Court’s term was an explosive one, as the justices considered whether SB1070 is preempted by federal law.

The Supreme Court appears ready to allow Arizona to enforce a state law provision that requires police officers to check the immigration status of people they think are in the country illegally.

Sitting as the lone proponent of Senate Bill 1070, former Arizona lawmaker Russell Pearce today defended his landmark legislation against U.S. senators and a table of fellow witnesses all allied against the illegal immigration bill.

Arizona will be in the national spotlight this week as SB1070 takes two of the nation’s most prominent stages.

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court will referee another major clash between the Obama administration and the states, this one over Arizona’s crackdown on illegal immigrants. The case could add fuel to the partisan split over tough state immigration laws backed by Republicans but challenged by the administration.

An audio recording has surfaced of an Arizona sheriff playing his refusal to cooperate in a racial profiling investigation for laughs at a fundraiser for an anti-illegal immigration group in Texas. He ridicules politicians who sought the probe and displayed contempt toward federal authorities who were — and are still — investigating him on two fronts.

Sen. Steve Gallardo, a Phoenix Democrat and a fierce critic of SB1070, has been invited to testify during a Congressional subcommittee hearing about state-level enforcement of immigration laws.

SB1070 architect Russell Pearce, whom Gallardo often clashed with when Pearce served in the Legislature, is also scheduled to testify at the hearing.

Mesa businessman Bob Worsley has fired the first shot in the primary race against former Senate President Russell Pearce, calling him out for spearheading a boycott campaign against the advertisers of an alternative newspaper.

NOGALES, Ariz. — Three men accused of being border bandits have been charged in federal court with holding illegal immigrants at gunpoint in Arizona and demanding ransoms from their families.

Immigrant rights advocates plan to hold a protest in downtown Phoenix on the day that the U.S. Supreme Court hears arguments over Arizona’s 2010 immigration enforcement law.