Supreme Court agrees to hear immigration law detention case
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether federal immigration law gives the government the power to indefinitely detain any noncitizen it is considering deporting if the person previously committed certain crimes.
The Supreme Court agreed Monday to consider the issue. Immigration law says that if noncitizens commit a crime for which they can be deported, the government should take them into custody for potential removal when they’re released from prison or jail.
A person detained immediately can be held indefinitely. The government argues the same is true if the person is released and then later detained for possible removal.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruled that noncitizens not promptly detained must be given the opportunity to be released on bond.
Supreme Court won’t upend Arizona licenses for immigrants
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is rejecting Arizona’s plea to stop issuing driver’s licenses to young immigrants known as “Dreamers” who are protected from deportation.
The justices did not comment Monday in leaving in place an appeals’ court decision in favor of the immigrants who sought licenses.
About 20,000 young immigrants in Arizona are protected from deportation under a 2012 program started by the Obama administration. The Trump administration is trying to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, but has been blocked by federal courts.
The high court recently turned down an administration request to take on the DACA controversy.
Arizona sought to prevent DACA-protected immigrants from getting licenses. Then-Gov. Jan Brewer cited a desire to reduce the risk of licenses being used to improperly access public benefits.
Supreme Court rejects challenge to Arizona death penalty law
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is rejecting a challenge to Arizona’s death penalty law.
The justices on Monday let stand the convictions and death sentences of Abel Daniel Hidalgo. He’s in a federal prison in Arizona serving life sentences for two other killings committed on an Indian reservation in Idaho.
Hidalgo says the law doesn’t sufficiently narrow eligibility for a death sentence.
Arizona law includes 14 aggravating circumstances that prosecutors can put forward to justify a death sentence. Jurors then deliberate between a sentence of death or life in prison.
The court’s four more liberal justices say they would be willing to take up the issue Hidalgo raised but in a different case in which lower courts could more thoroughly explore it first.
