The debate over immigration already is shaping presidential politics for the 2012 campaign, and now the Supreme Court is undertaking a review of an Arizona law that has spawned a host of copycat state laws targeting illegal immigrants. According to Associated Press reporting, the court will review a federal appeals court ruling that blocked several provisions in the Arizona law. One of those requires that police, while enforcing other laws, question a person's immigration status if officers suspect he is in the country illegally.

The Obama administration challenged the Arizona law by arguing that regulating immigration is the job of the federal government, not states. Similar laws in Alabama, South Carolina and Utah also are facing administration lawsuits. Private groups are suing over immigration measures adopted in Georgia and Indiana.

"This case is not just about Arizona. It's about every state grappling with the costs of illegal immigration," Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, a Republican, said following the court's announcement.

Fifty-nine Republicans in Congress filed a brief with the court backing the Arizona law.

Reports indicate that the immigration case pits Republican-led states against the Democratic administration in an argument about the reach of federal power. The states say that the federal government isn't doing enough to address a major problem and that border states are suffering disproportionately.

The issue has been widely discussed by the Republican candidates for president. They have mostly embraced a hard line to avoid accusations that they support any kind of "amnesty" for the some 12 million illegal immigrants estimated to be living in the U.S.

History of Immigration Law
According to Associated Press reporting, Brewer signed the Arizona immigration measure into law in April 2010. The administration sued three months later to block it from taking effect.

In April, a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco upheld a federal judge's ruling halting enforcement of several provisions of the law. Among the blocked provisions: requiring all immigrants to obtain or carry immigration registration papers; making it a state criminal offense for an illegal immigrant to seek work or hold a job and allowing police to arrest suspected illegal immigrants without warrants.

In October, the federal appeals court in Atlanta blocked parts of the Alabama law that forced public schools to check the immigration status of students and allowed police to file criminal charges against people who were unable to prove their citizenship.

Lawsuits in South Carolina and Utah are not as far along.

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