Denying jobs to illegal aliens

Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-3 that the state of Arizona is well within its rights to require employers to check the immigration status of prospective workers through the federal government database known as E-Verify.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce had sued the state over the law, arguing immigration enforcement is exclusively the purview of the federal government -- though the real outcome, had the lawsuit succeeded, would have been to allow illegal aliens to continue working virtually anywhere.

Justice Elena Kagan abstained because of her prior role in such matters as solicitor general.

As part of a sweeping immigration law passed in 1986, Congress removed almost all states' rights to enforce immigration, making it a federal responsibility. But lawmakers left one clause, pertaining to "all licenses necessary to operate the business," the National Journal reports.

Writing for the court, Chief Justice John Roberts pointed out Arizona enforces its employment-verification requirement through precisely such licensing laws.

The decision will be welcome news to other states that also have considered requiring employers to enroll in the Homeland Security Department's voluntary E-Verify program. That system checks workers' names and Social Security numbers against government databases. Georgia recently enacted such a law.

Although Arizona's E-Verify ordinance is more modest than a broad immigration-enforcement statute the state passed last year, which is also making its way through the courts in the wake of a lawsuit filed by the federal government, the high court's endorsement of the narrower employer-focused law signals that states may be granted some additional leeway in helping enforce federal immigration laws.

And that would be a good thing -- given that the federal executive branch appears to prefer largely ignoring its sworn duty to do so.