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Saturday, June 25, 2011

Ind. Decisions - "In rapid succession, federal judges slam the brakes on major elements of Indiana's strict immigration and abortion laws"

If you don't read the paper version of the Indianapolis Star, you need to click here to see today's front-page.

The ILB posted the Planned Parenthood and immigration opinions last evening, here and here.

Heather Giller's updated PPIN story from this morning's Star is here. Some quotes:

Medicaid patients in Indiana again can visit Planned Parenthood after a federal judge Friday put on hold a law cutting off the health provider's funding.

U.S. District Judge Tanya Walton Pratt ruled that the de-funding law violates federal Medicaid rules and "will exact a devastating financial toll on PPIN and hinder its ability to continue serving patients' general health needs." * * *

Pratt also put on hold a provision of the law that would have taken effect July 1 requiring doctors to tell patients seeking abortions that a fetus can feel pain at 20 weeks or less. But she temporarily upheld a part of the law requiring doctors to tell patients that life begins at fertilization.

The injunction means the defunding and fetal pain measures cannot be enforced while she is hearing Planned Parenthood's legal challenge to the law.

Bryan Corbin, a spokesman for the attorney general's office, said the state likely will seek a review of Pratt's ruling by the federal appeals court in Chicago. * * *

The injunction only places a temporary hold on enforcement of the parts of the law challenged by Planned Parenthood. Both the state and Planned Parenthood will make legal arguments before Pratt about whether parts of the law should be thrown out or allowed to stand.

But Pratt's ruling is an ominous sign for the state's prospects in the larger court case.

Vic Ryckaert and Jon Murray reported the Star's story this morning on the immigration ruling. Some quotes:
U.S. District Judge Sarah Evans Barker on Friday issued an injunction blocking Indiana's new immigration law, saying the state overstepped its boundaries in the controversial statute that was to take effect July 1.

Calling the measure "seriously flawed," Barker sided with the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana on the law's two main provisions: one barring the use of consular identification cards and another allowing the arrests of people whose immigration status is questionable.

In her order, Barker said the state failed in its attempt to wrest jurisdiction over immigration law from the federal government without running afoul of the U.S. Constitution and federal treaties.

"Insofar as Indiana's efforts to carve out such a permissible role, at least with regard to the two sections of the statute under review here, their results have proven to be seriously flawed and generally unsuccessful," she wrote.

The judge went so far as to describe the state's argument to keep the law as a "seemingly desperate effort to save it." * * *

In her ruling, Barker said the law violated the Constitution's due process and search and seizure provisions, as well as other protections, by allowing local police to arrest people whose immigration status has been questioned by federal authorities -- even if those authorities have determined that a person should be able to remain in the country.

She also said Indiana's immigration statute unlawfully usurped the federal government's authority by prohibiting the use of ID cards issued by foreign consulates -- noting the U.S. Treasury allows banks to accept them. * * *

The ACLU of Indiana did not challenge the portion of the state's law denying tax breaks to businesses that knowingly hire illegal immigrants.

The law's most controversial provisions -- including one requiring local police to investigate the immigration status of people stopped for broken taillights and other reasons -- were stripped before it won lawmakers' approval.

During the legislative session, Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller joined a group supporting an "Indiana Compact," which stated that immigration "is a federal policy issue between the U.S. government and other countries, not Indiana and other countries."

However, in a written statement Friday, Zoeller said Barker's ruling was an indictment of what he called the federal government's ineffective enforcement of immigration laws.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on June 25, 2011 08:41 AM
Posted to Ind Fed D.Ct. Decisions | Indiana Government | Indiana Law