federal judge blocks key parts of arizona immigration law

Whoa, really? Some actual hopeful news out of Arizona? Just passing along the news... Today in Phoenix, a federal judge blocked the most controversial part of Arizona's new immigration enforcement law -- just hours before it was supposed to take effect: Judge Blocks Key Parts of Immigration Law in Arizona.

In a ruling on a law that has rocked politics coast to coast and thrown a spotlight on a border state's fierce debate over immigration, Judge Susan Bolton of Federal District Court here said that some aspects of the law can go into effect as scheduled on Thursday.

But Judge Bolton took aim at the parts of the law that have generated the most controversy, issuing a preliminary injunction against sections that called for police officers to check a person's immigration status while enforcing other laws and that required immigrants to carry their papers at all times.

Judge Bolton put those sections on hold while she continued to hear the larger issues in the challenges to the law.

The ruling defuses the situation... for now. But a confrontation between police and activists has been building for months, and nobody's backing down from either side of this issue any time soon. This thing's going all the way to the Supreme Court. More here: Arizona Immigration Law: Sections BLOCKED By Federal Judge.