SCOTUS Strikes Down Parts of Ariz. Immigration Law

UPDATE: Thursday is the new Monday for those of us eagerly waiting to learn the fate of President Obama's landmark health care reform.

The Supreme Court issued several high-profile rulings today, but not the one that everyone's most excited/nervous about. The high court did, however, announce a major decision that strikes down key portions of Arizona's strict illegal immigration law, while also allowing authorities to begin enforcing other portions of the controversial measure.

Most notably, the Associated Press explains, the court tossed out provisions that would have required all immigrants to carry immigration registration papers, allowed police to arrest anyone they suspected of being an illegal immigrant without having a warrant, and made it a criminal offense for an illegal immigrant to look for or hold a job.

The court upheld the so-called "show me your papers" requirement—a provision that requires police to check the immigration status of anyone they detain if there is "reasonable suspicion" that they are here unlawfully—but the court also undercut the measure by prohibiting police from arresting people on minor immigration charges.

All things considered, the Washington Post called the ruling a "partial victory" for the Obama administration.

Bloomberg News provides the tie-in to the absent ruling on everyone's mind:

"The case bore similarities to the fight over Obama’s health-care law, with the administration clashing with Republican-controlled states. As with health care, the argument pitted U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli against former Solicitor General Paul Clement, arguing for the states."

In another notable decision, the court struck down a Montana law limiting corporate campaign spending. In doing so, the court upheld its controversial 2010 Citizens United ruling that allows corporations to spend unlimited amounts of cash to influence elections.

The AP explains that with Monday's 5-4 ruling, the court's more conservative justices made it clear that Citizens "applies to state campaign finance laws and guarantees corporate and labor union interests the right to spend freely to advocate for or against candidates for state and local offices."

Monday had technically been the last day remaining on the court's schedule for the current term, but the justices announced that they've added an extra day, Thursday, to the calendar, meaning that's likely the day we can now expect to learn what will happen to the health care law, SCOTUSblog reports.

You can read more about the rulings over at Slate's legal "Breakfast Table."

Monday, June 25: Places, everyone: A Supreme Court decision on the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, is expected this week, possibly as soon as late Monday morning.

With the fate of the president's landmark health reform law in doubt, Democrats and Republican have been prepping their messages for a handful of possible outcomes, but both sides appear to agree that there is a good chance justices won't leave the law exactly how it is. ProPublica has a good flowchart illustrating what the court might decide, and how those decisions would affect the law.

Politico, meanwhile, has a roundup of the partisan action plans should the court rule against the law's individual mandate. Essentially—unless the court also decides that the whole law should be thrown out—the law's opponents are expected to push for a full repeal on the notion that the controversial health coverage requirement is the linchpin of the entire law. The reforms' backers, however, are already noting that the mandate is less than 10 pages of the law's 1,024 pages, and are ready to defend the ability of the rest of the reform law to stand without the mandate in place.

Over at the SCOTUSblog, there's a liveblog of the court's opinions released Monday morning. As they note, Monday is the last day the court is scheduled to issue opinions, but it's quite possible that they'll add at least one more opinion day to the schedule. Even if Monday isn't ACA day, the court is also expected to issue opinions on a couple other landmark cases, including a decision on Arizona's immigration law.

Slate will discuss the court's decisions as they're released at a round-table with Dahlia Lithwick, Judge Richard A. Posner, and Walter Dellinger.