Oral arguments begin on Arizona's SB 1070.
The U.S Supreme Court will hear oral arguments this week on Arizona's controversial crackdown on illegal immigrants.
Like last month's arguments over President Barack Obama's health care overhaul, the debate over SB 1070 is sure to be another major, politically charged clash between the White House and states.
South Texas College of Law's Charles "Rocky" Rhodes believes the court really could go either way.
"The issue here is, are the states regulating immigration in a way that is inconsistent with how the federal government wants to regulate immigration, because federal law is supreme over state law," says Rhodes.
"The Arizona law has some provisions that might conflict with federal law, so it's going to be a close case for the justices," he says. "We'll know more after oral arguments, and we should hear from the Supreme Court by the end of June."
LULAC's Baldomero Garza believes immigration is a federal issue, and fears states will target Hispanics unfairly.
"If you're going to stop everybody and enquire about issues of immigration, then you're applying it fairly," says Garza. "But if you're only going to stop people that look Hispanic or appear to be Hispanic, there's a question that you're not implementing this in a reasonable manner."
However, Curtis Collier at U.S. Border Watch calls that a bunch of bologna.
"The law clearly says they can't just stop you on racial grounds, they have to stop you for some other reason before they can run a check on you," says Collier. "I understand the immigration issue being a federal issue, but when the federal government fails like it has with this particular issue, and then the states have to do something."
The argument and decision could provide more fuel for the partisan split over tough state immigration laws backed by Republicans but challenged by the Obama administration.
Texas Senator John Cornyn issued the following statement:
"This hearing does nothing to advance immigration reform in Congress or otherwise fix our broken system. It is no more than election-year theater. The Supreme Court will decide the fate of Arizona's SB1070 on constitutional grounds. Yet none of the majority's witnesses is an expert on the complex questions the Court will consider. This is not an attempt at having a sincere hearing on the merits. Unfortunately, the Democrat majority seems to have embraced President Obama's ‘mañana’ approach to immigration reform."
