MALDEF

MALDEF TO PRESENT ARGUMENT ON TEXAS SB 4 BEFORE THE FIFTH CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS


November 3, 2017


New Orleans, LA - MALDEF (Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund) will return to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on Tuesday, Nov. 7, to present argument on Texas SB 4.

The hearing before the three-judge panel will consider the merits of a preliminary injunction issued in late August by Judge Orlando Garcia of U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas that temporarily blocked key provisions of SB 4, including a mandate to comply with all ICE detainers in local jails, restrictions on the free speech of local officials, and requirements for local employees to maintain practices that enforce immigration laws. The panel will consider whether to uphold Judge Garcia’s temporary blocks to the law pending resolution of the case.

The panel will also review cross appeals challenging the parts of the law that Judge Garcia allowed to go into effect.

MALDEF is challenging SB 4 on behalf of the City of San Antonio, Bexar County, the City of El Paso, San Antonio City Councilmember Rey A. Saldaña, the Texas Association of Chicanos in Higher Education (TACHE), the Workers Defense Project (WDP), and La Union Del Pueblo Entero (LUPE), alleging that the law violates the First, Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution, as well as other constitutional and statutory provisions. MALDEF is joined in the case by pro bono counsel from the law firm Sidley Austin LLP.

MALDEF had previously appeared before the Fifth Circuit on behalf of its clients in September to oppose an emergency motion by the State of Texas to allow SB 4 to take effect pending resolution of the full appeal.

Read MALDEF's briefs in the appeal and the cross appeal, a timeline of SB 4 developments, and a summary of the legal arguments against it.

WHAT: Merits hearing on injunction blocking portions of Texas SB 4

WHO: Nina Perales, MALDEF vice president of litigation

WHEN: 2 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2017

WHERE: U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
John Minor Wisdom United States Court of Appeals Building
600 Camp Street
New Orleans, Louisiana



Founded in 1968, MALDEF is the nation's leading Latino legal civil rights organization. Often described as the "Latino Legal Voice for Civil Rights in America" MALDEF promotes social change through advocacy, communications, community education, and litigation in the areas of education, employment, immigrant rights, and political access. For more information on MALDEF, please visit: www.maldef.org.

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