Last spring, we described Florida's immigration law that allowed misdemeanor charges to be filed at the state level against any illegal alien who entered the Sunshine State to attempt to evade federal authorities. In April, a district court issued an injunction against the state of Florida, halting its enforcement of that law. The Attorney General of the State of Florida, James Uthmeier, appealed to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, which denied his motion to stay the injunction pending appeal. James Uthmeier then filed an application for a stay with the Supreme Court; that happened on June 17th.
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court announced, in a terse statement, that they are denying the Florida AG's application. For the time being, Florida may not enforce this law.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to revive an aggressive Florida immigration law that had been blocked by lower courts. The law would let state officials prosecute unauthorized migrants who enter the state.
The court’s one-sentence order gave no reasons, which is typical when the justices act on emergency applications. There were no noted dissents.
This isn't over, of course; all of these actions are pending appeal. This may well end up back in the Supreme Court as part of that process.
The court’s ruling is not the last word in the case, which is pending in an appeals court and may return to the justices. The litigation to date has been contentious, with a trial judge holding the state’s attorney general in contempt for what she said was defiance of her ruling.
The contempt charge was in part what we reported in May.
At that time, I wrote:
In other words, the Attorney General of the State of Florida, James Uthmeier, is stating that the judge's order will be, for all intents and purposes, ignored.
"The judge wants me to put my stamp of approval on an order prohibiting all state law enforcement from enforcing Florida’s immigration laws when no law enforcement are party to the lawsuit," he said, as the ACLU’s suit is being adjudicated before Obama-appointed Miami federal judge Kathleen Williams.
"I’m just not going to do that. We believe the court has overstepped and lacks jurisdiction there, and I will not tell law enforcement to stop fulfilling their constitutional duties," Uthmeier, who is being threatened with contempt actions, told Fox News Digital.
AG Uthemeier was held in contempt on June 17th by U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams, although the Florida AG did not face any fines or jail time.
That's where this stands as of this writing.
What's interesting about this case is the state vs. federal angle where illegal immigration is concerned. Politicians across the spectrum have, for years, argued that immigration law enforcement is the exclusive province of the federal government, but several states, including Florida and Texas, have acted on their own, in large part out of frustration over the Biden administration's non-enforcement of the border and of immigration law. When this case is decided, it could well settle a lot of these issues once and for all.
Of course, now Florida has a new role to play in the overall illegal immigration problem:
See Also: I'm Sold! Alligator Alcatraz Detainee Describes Mosquitoes 'the Size of Elephants'
Mosquitoes the size of elephants? Welcome to Alaska. Although, to be fair, our mosquitoes at least aren't around all year.
This is (still) a developing story. We'll bring you updates as events warrant.
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