The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments on the bill SB 1070 on Wednesday. The case pits the United States government against the State of Arizona.  Some people that the argument did not go well for the US government, but nothing is certain.

The court is considering only four provisions of the law:

1. The part that requires a police officer to verify the immigration status of a person

2. A part that allows police to arrest an immigrant without a warrant where there is probable cause that he committed a public offense

3. A section making it a crime for "unauthorized immigrants" who do not have registration papers and government ID to be present in the state

4. A restriction aginst those who are not authorized to work in the United States to find work, seek work or do work in Arizona

Several Justices were concerned about whether the law would give the  police greater powers to detain anyone, including U.S. citizens, than the officers would have under other Arizona laws.

The judges also wanted to know what Arizona police would do if an officer called US immigration authorities and those authorities said they did not want to take the illegally present person into custody.  Would the police in Arizona then release the person?

Justice Antonin Scalia remarked at one point to the Solicitor that the government's argument was "not selling well."

In other news there was a large protest against SB 1070 in San Francisco on Friday April 27, 2012.