Utah Coalition of La Raza v. Herbert

26 F. Supp. 3d 1125, 2014 WL 2765195, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 86614
CourtDistrict Court, D. Utah
DecidedJune 18, 2014
DocketCase Nos. 2:11-cv-401 CW, 2:11-cv-1072
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 26 F. Supp. 3d 1125 (Utah Coalition of La Raza v. Herbert) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Utah primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Utah Coalition of La Raza v. Herbert, 26 F. Supp. 3d 1125, 2014 WL 2765195, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 86614 (D. Utah 2014).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM DECISION AND ORDER

CLARK WADDOUPS, District Judge.

INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND During its 2011 legislative session, the Utah State Legislature enacted the Utah Illegal Immigration Enforcement Act (hereinafter “H.B. 497” or the “Act”), in conjunction with three other bills, as part of a comprehensive “Utah solution” on immigration reform.1 H.B. 497 was signed into law by Governor Gary Herbert on March 15, 2011, and was scheduled to take effect on May 10, 2011.

On May 3, 2011, Plaintiff Utah Coalition [1131]*1131of La Raza and others2 (collectively “La Raza”) filed a Complaint seeking declaratory and injunctive relief. La Raza seeks to have the entire Act declared unconstitutional based on alleged violations of both the United States and Utah’s constitutions. On May 6, 2011, La Raza filed a Motion for Preliminary Injunction, seeking to enjoin state enforcement of H.B. 497. A hearing was held on May 10, 2011, and this court granted a Temporary Restraining Order, staying H.B. 497 pending further order. See Order (Dkt. No. 45).

The United States filed a parallel action on November 22, 2011 and immediately moved to consolidate that case with the present one. After the court granted that motion, the United States then filed its own motion for preliminary injunction. In its motion, however, the United States only seeks to enjoin enforcement of three sections of H.B. 497 — Sections 3, 10, and 11.

On February 17, 2012, the court held a hearing on both motions for preliminary injunction and took the matter under advisement. Four days later, the court issued a written order stating that, given the significant constitutional issues raised by this case, and the likelihood that the Supreme Court would address some of the issues in a forthcoming ruling, it would not be prudent to rule until it had received such guidance.3 See Order (Dkt. No. 183).

On June 25, 2012, the Supreme Court announced its holding in Arizona v. United States, 567 U.S. -, 132 S.Ct. 2492, 183 L.Ed.2d 351 (2012). In the wake of this ruling, the parties submitted additional briefing on the motions. La Raza also filed an additional motion for preliminary injunction, seeking to enjoin section 5 of H.B. 497. The court then held another hearing on February 15, 2013 to address all three motions. The court took the motions under advisement and stated that the court’s previous injunction would remain in effect pending its decision. The court now rules on the three outstanding motions.

For the reasons stated below, La Raza’s Motion for Preliminary Injunction (Dkt. No. 36) is GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART, the United States’ Motion for Preliminary Injunction (Dkt. No. 136) is GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART, and La Raza’s Motion for Preliminary Injunction Against § 5 of H.B. 497 (Dkt. No. 201) is DENIED.

ANALYSIS

La Raza’s first motion for preliminary injunction challenges the entirety of H.B. 497 on its face based on the Supremacy Clause. It then makes specific facial challenges to individual sections of the Act in its first and second motions for preliminary injunction. In contrast, while the United States makes a facial challenge based on the Supremacy Clause, it only challenges Sections 3,10, and 11 of the Act rather than the Act as a whole. Nevertheless, the three motions are highly interrelated and many of the controlling legal principles overlap. The court will there[1132]*1132fore address the motions together, starting first with the overall facial challenge, and then reviewing H.B. 497 section by section,4 to address the specific facial chai-, lenges that have been made by La Raza and the United States.

I. OVERALL FACIAL CHALLENGE -

A. Challenge

La Raza alleges that H.B. 497, as a whole, violates the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution in at least two ways. First, La Raza claims that H.B. 497 is preempted as an impermissible “state regulation of immigration,” a power reserved solely to the federal government. Preliminary Inj. Mem., at 9 (Dkt. No. 37). Additionally, La Raza claims that H.B. 497 is subject to conflict preemption because it creates an obstacle to accomplishing the purposes of Congress’ immigration legislation. Id.

B. Legal Principle of Preemption

As the Supreme Court observed, “[f]ed-eral governance of immigration and alien status is extensive and complex.” Arizona, 132 S.Ct. at 2499. Despite its complex nature, there are well-established principles which guide the interpretation and application' of immigration-related legislation. The first and most prominent of these is the principle of preemption.

The principle of preemption has its roots in the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which states federal law “shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.” U.S. Const, art. VI, § 1, cl. 2. Thus, when Congress, acting within the bounds of its constitutional authority, enacts legislation regulating some matter, it has the power to preempt any existing or subsequent state law. See Arizona, 132 S.Ct. at 2500-2501 (citing Crosby v. Nat’l Foreign Trade Council, 530 U.S. 363, 372, 120 S.Ct. 2288, 147 L.Ed.2d 352 (2000); Gibbons v. Ogden, 22 U.S. 1, 9 Wheat. 1, 210-211, 6 L.Ed. 23 (1824)). Under this authority, Congress may, by explicit edict, prohibit state legislation in a given area of law. Id.; see Altria Group, Inc. v. Good, 555 U.S. 70, 76, 129 S.Ct. 538, 172 L.Ed.2d 398 (2008); Jones v. Rath Packing Co., 430 U.S. 519, 525, 97. S.Ct. 1305, 51 L.Ed.2d 604 (1977). This type of preemption is known as “express preemption.”

In addition to express preemption, there is another type of preemption — implied preemption — which may be broadly grouped into two sub-categories: “field preemption” and “conflict preemption.”

Field preemption precludes a state “from regulating conduct in a field that Congress, acting within its proper authority, has determined must be regulated by its exclusive governance.” Arizona, 132 S.Ct. at 2501. The intent to occupy a field in such a way that state regulations become impermissible “can be inferred from a framework of regulation ‘so pervasive ... that Congress left no room for the States to supplement it’ or where there is a ‘federal interest ... so dominant that the federal system will be assumed to. preclude enforcement of state laws on the same subject.’ ” Id. (quoting Rice v. Santa Fe Elevator Corp., 331 U.S. 218, 230, 67 S.Ct. 1146, 91 L.Ed. 1447 (1947); see English v. Gen. Elec. Co., 496 U.S. 72, 79, 110 S.Ct. 2270, 110 L.Ed.2d 65. (1990)) (alteration in original).

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Bluebook (online)
26 F. Supp. 3d 1125, 2014 WL 2765195, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 86614, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/utah-coalition-of-la-raza-v-herbert-utd-2014.