Arizona Police Won't Check Immigrants' Status Starting Thursday

In the latest step of the Arizona immigration saga, United States District Court Judge Susan Bolton knocked down the most controversial portions of the state's new law, which is set to take effect on Thursday:

The parts of the law that the judge blocked included the sections that called for officers to check a person's immigration status while enforcing other laws and that required immigrants to carry their papers at all times. Judge Bolton put those sections on hold until the issues are resolved by the courts.

The judge's decision, which came as demonstrators opposed and supporting the law gathered here and after three hearings in the past two weeks in which she peppered lawyers on both sides with skeptical questions, seemed unlikely to quell the debate.

The ruling came four days before 1,200 National Guard troops are to report to the Southwest border to assist federal and local law enforcement agencies there, part of the Obama administration's response to growing anxiety over the border and immigration that has fed support for the law.

Lawyers for Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, a Republican who signed the law and is campaigning on it for election, were expected to appeal, and legal experts predict the case is bound for the United States Supreme Court.

Read the full story at the New York Times.