Racial Profiling, Arizona Immigration Law | featured news

When the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the key provision of Arizona's immigration enforcement law last month, opponents of the measure were encouraged that the court left the door open for future lawsuits once the law goes into effect. But legal experts warn that lawsuits claiming racial profiling by police officers — one of the avenues that Justice Anthony Kennedy listed as a way to challenge the law — take a long time to develop and are difficult to win.

In oral arguments, both liberal and conservative justices indicate they may maintain a provision of the Arizona law that tells police to check the immigration status of people they stop.

Mexico on Tuesday asked a federal court in Arizona to declare the state's new immigration law unconstitutional, arguing that the country's own interests and its citizens' rights are at stake.