Chamber of Commerce v. Whiting
What's at Stake
(formerly Chamber of Commerce v. Candelaria)
Whether an Arizona law imposing severe sanctions on employers who hire immigrants that the state believes are unauthorized to work in the United States, and requiring employers to participate in a federal employment verification program that the federal government made voluntary, is pre-empted by the carefully calibrated and comprehensive scheme that the federal government has enacted to regulate immigration.
Summary
As part of a comprehensive overhaul of the immigration laws, Congress adopted a series of carefully calibrated measures, beginning in the mid-1980s, to enforce the federal bar on hiring unauthorized immigrant workers while preserving the civil rights of immigrant and minority communities. Unsatisfied with these efforts, Arizona adopted its own law imposing far more severe sanctions on employers who hire workers that Arizona believes are unauthorized to work, and requiring employers to participate in a federal employment verification program that the federal government chose not to make mandatory. The ACLU represents civil rights groups that have joined with business and labor in this lawsuit contending that the Arizona statute is pre-empted by federal law and therefore unconstitutional.
Legal Documents
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09/02/2010
Chamber of Commerce v. Candelaria - Brief for the Petitioners
Date Filed: 09/02/2010
Press Releases
Supreme Court Upholds Arizona Employment Law in Narrow Ruling
Supreme Court Hears Challenge To Arizona Employer Sanctions Law