The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected a request by Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier that would have at least temporarily allowed enforcement of a new state law targeting undocumented immigrants who enter the state.
Uthmeier last month asked the Supreme Court for a stay of a temporary injunction that U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams issued in April to block the law. Such a stay, if granted, would have allowed enforcement of the law while an underlying legal battle about the injunction played out.
The Supreme Court denied the stay request.
As is common, the Supreme Court did not explain its reasons, but the decision likely means the law will remain on hold at least until the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals can rule on a state appeal of the preliminary injunction. A panel of the appeals court is slated to hear arguments in October.
The law, which passed during a February special legislative session, created state crimes for undocumented immigrants who enter or re-enter Florida. It came as Gov. Ron DeSantis and Republican lawmakers rushed to back President Donald Trump’s efforts to crack down on illegal immigration.
But Williams ruled that the law (SB 4-C) likely was preempted by federal immigration-enforcement authority. In part, she pointed to the law requiring that violators go to jail and indicated that could conflict with federal authority.
“First, it gives state officials authority to prosecute illegal entry or reentry in cases where federal actors may choose not to,” the judge wrote. “Even if federal and state officials choose to commence parallel dual prosecutions under both laws, SB 4-C’s mandatory detention provision limits federal law enforcement discretion to recommend pre-trial release and obstructs federal courts’ ability to conduct proceedings requiring defendants’ presence. Relatedly, state officials are free to prosecute a charge under SB 4-C even while a federal immigration proceeding is underway, which may determine that the defendant may remain lawfully present under federal law.”
But in asking the Supreme Court for a stay, Uthmeier’s office disputed that the state law is preempted, saying it “purposefully tracks federal law to a tee.” Also, Uthmeier’s office said Florida has been “enjoined from enforcing its statute to the detriment of Florida’s citizens and the state’s sovereign prerogative to protect them from harm.”
“Illegal immigration continues to wreak havoc in the state while that law cannot be enforced,” the stay request said. “And without this (Supreme) Court’s intervention, Florida and its citizens will remain disabled from combatting the serious harms of illegal immigration for years as this litigation proceeds through the lower courts.”
Attorneys for the Florida Immigrant Coalition, the Farmworker Association of Florida and two individual plaintiffs challenged the law April 2 in federal court in South Florida, alleging, in part, that it violates what is known as the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution because immigration enforcement is a federal responsibility. The lawsuit names as defendants Uthmeier and local state attorneys across Florida.
Williams on April 4 issued a temporary restraining order to block enforcement of the law and extended the restraining order on April 18. Ultimately, she issued a longer-lasting preliminary injunction on April 29, prompting the state to appeal.
In a brief filed at the Supreme Court opposing the state’s stay request, attorneys for the plaintiffs focused heavily on the preemption issue. The brief, partially quoting a 2024 ruling in a Texas case, said “Congress has ‘established a comprehensive framework to identify who may enter, how they may enter, where they may enter, and what penalties apply for those who enter unlawfully.’”
“And SB 4-C conflicts with the intricate federal scheme at every turn: Congress has provided a range of tools and broad discretion to federal officials in order to balance a range of national interests, yet SB 4-C seeks to wrest control of one of those tools — criminal regulation of entry — from federal control and discretion, to be applied however Florida (and, presumably, any other state) sees fit,” the brief said.
A panel of the Atlanta-based appeals court last month also rejected a request by Uthmeier for a stay.
The battle over the law has been highly contentious, with Williams taking the unusual step of finding Uthmeier in civil contempt.
That finding stemmed from a letter that Uthmeier sent in April to police after the judge ordered a halt to enforcement of the law. Williams said Uthmeier violated a directive to notify police agencies that what was then a temporary restraining order barred them from enforcing the law. Uthmeier has contended Williams’ rulings should only apply to him and local state attorneys, the named defendants in the case, and not to law-enforcement officers.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration this week filed a brief arguing that the appeals court should overturn the preliminary injunction.
–Jim Saunders, News Service of Florida
Deborah Coffey says
Where does all this hate come from? Republicans are killing thousands of people in Africa by dumping USAID, pregnant women right here in our own country denying them life-saving treatment when their pregnancies go wrong, starving children by denying SNAP, and now they’re taking away health insurance from at least 17,000,000 people in the Big Beautiful Bill. Is it just lust for power and money? What are we paying taxes for if not to benefit the people who are our neighbors and friends? If all that money goes into the Treasury, will Trump just steal it from there? What a hateful mess! “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth” while “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”
Skibum says
“Where does all of this hate come from” is an excellent question. For me, having grown up in a very religious household where both of my parents became ordained ministers within their conservative protestant church and were, do my years long dismay and frustration, followers of despicable men like Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson, I think the cult of far right conservative religiosity that ignores the teachings and example of Jesus plays a huge part of what we see and unfortunately have to experience in today’s republican politics.
The pseudo-Christian, maga loving and cross neckless wearing cultists like Pam Bondi spout all manner of bible thumping scriptures to justify their hate and intolerance of others – something that the bible shows Jesus NEVER did.
They pass laws and demand the public display of the 10 Commandments in schools, yet they don’t believe what those commandments say pertain to their own attitudes and behavior toward others.
They scream for the lawful sanction of government to enable open and public prayer in schools, even to include broadcasting their preferred religion’s prayers over school loudspeakers so everyone gets a dose whether they wish to or adhere to that type of demagoguery or not, and at the same time they file court challenges and lawsuits to limit or outright deny other religions they don’t agree with the same legal right.
They rail on about how abortion is murder, to the extreme point that even as early as one sperm passing through an egg is sufficient for them to claim fertilization equals human life, despite contradictory facts of actual science.
They hypocritically spout all sorts of statements about the “sanctity of life” and how precious every human life is to them while cutting and eliminating essential funds and programs for children, the elderly and the most needy of Americans, claiming that people just need to “pull themselves up by the bootstraps” and make do on their own like other working people are able to do.
For those who believe in Jesus, the bible, and religion in general, can you just imagine learning about a maga extremist version of Jesus that fits not only the definition, but the examples, of today’s conservative, religosity cult pseudo-Christians? A Jesus who prefers and helps the rich over the poor? A Jesus who, instead of serving enough bread and fish for the hungry masses insists that they make do and stop complaining they are hungry. A Jesus who doesn’t speak about loving thy neighbor but instead derives and ridicules those who are not, in his eyes, worthy of his time.
I could go on and on, but the religious right conservative movement has for years talked a good talk, but for the most part they forgot the most important aspect of Christianity, and that is to walk the walk… the walk that Jesus taught in their bible that they love to pick and choose which parts they like while discarding and ignoring the teachings that they don’t like to acknowledge.
Vote r and starve a kid says
Cruelty is the point with republicans! They are domestic terrorist and foolish traitors. Hope they get to experience the concentration camps they send people to! Let them experience the murikkkan treason and hate! If there is a Hell it will be full of burning republicans !!
Deborah Coffey says
@ Skibum says
Thank you for your detailed comment. We simply have to continue speaking the truth, even if it hurts.
Atwp says
Any blow to the Republican Demonic agenda is fine with me.
Laurel says
“”The brief, partially quoting a 2024 ruling in a Texas case, said “Congress has ‘established a comprehensive framework to identify who may enter, how they may enter, where they may enter, and what penalties apply for those who enter unlawfully.””
As Trump would have it, anyone who enters the U.S. through the birth canal, would be illegal.