United States v. State of Arizona

CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedApril 11, 2011
Docket10-16645
StatusPublished

This text of United States v. State of Arizona (United States v. State of Arizona) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. State of Arizona, (9th Cir. 2011).

Opinion

Case: 10-16645 04/11/2011 Page: 1 of 87 ID: 7711547 DktEntry: 199-1

FOR PUBLICATION UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,  Plaintiff-Appellee, No. 10-16645 v. STATE OF ARIZONA; JANICE K.  D.C. No. 2:10-cv-01413-SRB BREWER, Governor of the State of OPINION Arizona, in her official capacity, Defendants-Appellants.  Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Arizona Susan R. Bolton, District Judge, Presiding

Argued and Submitted November 1, 2010—San Francisco, California

Filed April 11, 2011

Before: John T. Noonan, Richard A. Paez, and Carlos T. Bea, Circuit Judges.

Opinion by Judge Paez; Concurrence by Judge Noonan; Partial Concurrence and Partial Dissent by Judge Bea

4805 Case: 10-16645 04/11/2011 Page: 2 of 87 ID: 7711547 DktEntry: 199-1

UNITED STATES v. STATE OF ARIZONA 4809

COUNSEL

John J. Bouma, Robert A. Henry, Joseph G. Adams, Joseph A. Kanefield, Office of Governor Janice K. Brewer, for Case: 10-16645 04/11/2011 Page: 3 of 87 ID: 7711547 DktEntry: 199-1

4810 UNITED STATES v. STATE OF ARIZONA defendants-appellants State of Arizona, and Janice K. Brewer, Governor of the State of Arizona.

Edwin Kneedler, Deputy United States Solicitor General, Tony West, Assistant Attorney General, Dennis K. Burke, United States Attorney, Beth S. Brinkmann, Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Mark B. Stern, Thomas M. Bondy, Michael P. Abate, Daniel Tenny, Attorneys, Appellate Staff Civil Division, Department of Justice, for plaintiff-appellee United States of America.

OPINION

PAEZ, Circuit Judge:

In April 2010, in response to a serious problem of unautho- rized immigration along the Arizona-Mexico border, the State of Arizona enacted its own immigration law enforcement pol- icy. Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act, as amended by H.B. 2162 (“S.B. 1070”), “make[s] attri- tion through enforcement the public policy of all state and local government agencies in Arizona.” S.B. 1070 § 1. The provisions of S.B. 1070 are distinct from federal immigration laws. To achieve this policy of attrition, S.B. 1070 establishes a variety of immigration-related state offenses and defines the immigration-enforcement authority of Arizona’s state and local law enforcement officers.

Before Arizona’s new immigration law went into effect, the United States sued the State of Arizona in federal district court alleging that S.B. 1070 violated the Supremacy Clause on the grounds that it was preempted by the Immigration and Nationality Act (“INA”), and that it violated the Commerce Clause. Along with its complaint, the United States filed a motion for injunctive relief seeking to enjoin implementation of S.B. 1070 in its entirety until a final decision is made about Case: 10-16645 04/11/2011 Page: 4 of 87 ID: 7711547 DktEntry: 199-1

UNITED STATES v. STATE OF ARIZONA 4811 its constitutionality. Although the United States requested that the law be enjoined in its entirety, it specifically argued facial challenges to only six select provisions of the law. United States v. Arizona, 703 F. Supp. 2d 980, 992 (D. Ariz. 2010).

The district court granted the United States’ motion for a preliminary injunction in part, enjoining enforcement of S.B. 1070 Sections 2(B), 3, 5(C), and 6, on the basis that federal law likely preempts these provisions. Id. at 1008. Arizona appealed the grant of injunctive relief, arguing that these four sections are not likely preempted; the United States did not cross-appeal the partial denial of injunctive relief. Thus, the United States’ likelihood of success on its federal preemption argument against these four sections is the central issue this appeal presents.1

We have jurisdiction to review the district court’s order under 28 U.S.C. § 1292(a)(1). We hold that the district court did not abuse its discretion by enjoining S.B. 1070 Sections 2(B), 3, 5(C), and 6. Therefore, we affirm the district court’s preliminary injunction order enjoining these certain provi- sions of S.B. 1070.

Standard of Review

We review the district court’s grant of a preliminary injunc- tion for abuse of discretion. Sw. Voter Registration Educ. Project v. Shelley, 344 F.3d 914, 918 (9th Cir. 2003) (en banc). A preliminary injunction “should be reversed if the dis- trict court based ‘its decision on an erroneous legal standard or on clearly erroneous findings of fact.’ ” Stormans, Inc. v. 1 A party seeking a preliminary injunction has the burden to demonstrate that (1) it is likely to succeed on the merits of the claim, (2) it will suffer irreparable harm absent injunctive relief, and (3) that the balance of the equities and the public interest favor granting the injunction. Winter v. Natural Res. Def. Council Inc., 129 S. Ct. 365, 374 (2008). Our analysis here begins and focuses on the critical issue of the United States’ likeli- hood of success on the merits of its preemption claim. Case: 10-16645 04/11/2011 Page: 5 of 87 ID: 7711547 DktEntry: 199-1

4812 UNITED STATES v. STATE OF ARIZONA Selecky, 586 F.3d 1109, 1119 (9th Cir. 2009) (quoting FTC v. Enforma Natural Prods., Inc., 362 F.3d 1204, 1211-12 (9th Cir. 2004)). We review de novo the district court’s conclu- sions on issues of law, including “the district court’s decision regarding preemption and its interpretation and construction of a federal statute.” Am. Trucking Ass’ns, Inc. v. Los Angeles, 559 F.3d 1046, 1052 (9th Cir. 2009).

Discussion

I. General Preemption Principles

[1] The federal preemption doctrine stems from the Supremacy Clause, U.S. Const. art. VI, cl. 2, and the “funda- mental principle of the Constitution [ ] that Congress has the power to preempt state law.” Crosby v. Nat’l Foreign Trade Council, 530 U.S. 363, 372 (2000). Our analysis of a preemp- tion claim

[M]ust be guided by two cornerstones of [the Supreme Court’s] pre-emption jurisprudence. First, the purpose of Congress is the ultimate touchstone in every pre-emption case. . . . Second, [i]n all pre- emption cases, and particularly in those in which Congress has legislated . . . in a field which the States have traditionally occupied, . . . [courts] start with the assumption that the historic police powers of the States were not to be superseded by the Fed- eral Act unless that was the clear and manifest pur- pose of Congress.

Wyeth v. Levine, 129 S. Ct. 1187, 1194-95 (2009) (internal quotation marks and citations omitted) (quoting Medtronic, Inc. v. Lohr, 518 U.S. 470, 485 (1996)).

[2] Even if Congress has not explicitly provided for pre- emption in a given statute, the Supreme Court “ha[s] found that state law must yield to a congressional Act in at least two Case: 10-16645 04/11/2011 Page: 6 of 87 ID: 7711547 DktEntry: 199-1

UNITED STATES v. STATE OF ARIZONA 4813 circumstances.” Crosby, 530 U.S. at 372. First, “[w]hen Con- gress intends federal law to ‘occupy the field,’ state law in that area is preempted.” Id. (quoting California v. ARC Amer- ica Corp., 490 U.S. 93, 100 (1989)). Second, “even if Con- gress has not occupied the field, state law is naturally preempted to the extent of any conflict with a federal statute.” Id. Conflict preemption, in turn, has two forms: impossibility and obstacle preemption. Id. at 372-373. Impossibility pre- emption exists “where it is impossible for a private party to comply with both state and federal law.” Id. Obstacle preemp- tion exists “where ‘under the circumstances of [a] particular case, [the challenged state law] stands as an obstacle to the accomplishment and execution of the full purposes and objec- tives of Congress.’ ” Id.

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