Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery said he is now turning to the U.S. Supreme Court in the hopes of preserving a controversial Arizona law that denies bail to some undocumented defendants in jail.
In mid-October, an 11-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the Arizona law to be unconstitutional in a 9-2 vote.
Montgomery had asked the appeals court to stay their decision and let a lower court re-examine the case.
But on Thursday the appeals court denied that request, too. Now Montgomery said he is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in.
“The Ninth Circuit is the most overturned court in the United States,” Montgomery said. “And we have seen recently too with some of the hair-brained rationale they have given with some of their rulings that there is a reason for that.”
The law was approved by voters as Proposition 100. It requires undocumented immigrants accused of certain crimes to stay in jail as they await their trials. Montgomery said it’s necessary to ensure those defendants don’t abscond.
But Cecillia Wang of the American Civil Liberties Union, which challenged the law, said the Ninth Circuit faithfully applied U.S. Supreme Court precedence when it struck the law down.
“Proposition 100 not only violates a fundamental constitutional principal,” Wang said. “It also unnecessarily costs taxpayers in Arizona for putting people in jail who don’t need to be in jail who are showing up for court as directed.”
Montgomery is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to allow the law to remain in effect while it considers the appeal.