Federal judge halts S.C. immigration suit

COLUMBIA -- A federal judge in South Carolina has halted a lawsuit over the state's tough new immigration law pending the outcome of a U.S. Supreme Court decision on a similar challenge in Arizona.

U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel issued the order Monday after receiving requests to do so from both federal prosecutors and attorneys representing South Carolina. The federal government and the American Civil Liberties Union last year sued South Carolina, challenging the constitutionality of the new law.

Some portions of the law went into effect as scheduled on Jan. 1, including a requirement that businesses check new hires' legal status through a federal system. Businesses that knowingly violate the law could have their operating licenses revoked.

South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson, who is representing the state, had originally asked that the entire law be allowed to take effect Jan. 1 while the lawsuit goes forward, but Gergel turned down that request last month before blocking several key provisions.

Last month, Gergel blocked sections that make it a state crime not to carry immigration paperwork or for illegal immigrants to transport or house themselves.

The judge also blocked a requirement that officers check the immigration status of people they pull over if officers suspect they are in the country illegally.

The Obama administration challenged the Arizona law, arguing that regulating immigration is the job of the federal government, not states. The Department of Justice also challenged similar laws in Alabama and Utah. Civil liberties and immigrant rights groups also sued over measures in those states, as well as in Georgia and Indiana.

A judge has blocked a similar portion of Arizona's law, after which South Carolina's legislation was modeled. That state's appeal is now pending before the U.S. Supreme Court, and prosecutors have said justices will likely rule in the first half of this year.

A federal appeals court has denied requests by Georgia and Alabama to delay action on legal challenges to their own new illegal immigration laws pending the outcome of the high court decision.