Main players in SB 1070 drama

Who are the main players in the legal battle over SB 1070?

Since April 27, seven lawsuits have been filed seeking to block the law from taking effect.

All of the suits name Gov. Jan Brewer and the state of Arizona as defendants.

Objections in the suits include potential violations of the rights people who could be detained because they can't immediately produce proof they are in the country legally, that the law puts an undue burden on police officers who must enforce it and that it attempts to preempt federal supremacy on immigration matters.

Plaintiffs vary from individuals to coalitions of national civil rights organizations to the U.S. government.

In some cases, the original plaintiffs have been supplemented with a list of intervening plaintiffs. As a result, in several cases, just the list of attorneys who must be notified of legal developments runs 25 pages or more.

Plaintiffs in three of the cases have requested preliminary injunctions to stop the law from taking effect as scheduled on July 29, until its legitimacy can be decided by a judge. Those are the only cases currently being heard by U.S. District Judge Susan R. Bolton. She heard one last week but has yet to rule.

She will hear the other two Thursday.

MAIN PLAYERS

In all cases, the state and Brewer are represented by attorneys John J. Bouma of the Phoenix firm of Snell & Wilmer and Joseph A. Kanefield, general counsel to the governor.

Primary plaintiffs in the cases, and their representatives are (the three seeking injunctions listed first):

• United States/Department of Justice, represented by Deputy U.S. Solicitor Edwin S. Keedler

• American Civil Liberties Union, represented by Lucas Guttentag from the organization's New York-based Immigrants Rights Project; Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, represented by Nina Perales from the organization's San Antonio, Texas, office; and the National Immigration Law Center, represented by Ghazal Tajmiri and others from the organization's Los Angeles office.

• Phoenix police officer David Salgado, represented by Stephen G. Montoya of the Montoya Jimenez law firm in Phoenix; and Chicanos por la Causa, represented by Phoenix attorney Erica Rose Gonzalez-Melendez

• Tucson police officer Martin H. Escobar, represented by Tucson attorney Richard Martinez.

• League of United Latin American Citizens, represented by Phoenix attorney T. Anthony Guajardo

• National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders, represented by Tania Galloni of the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center.

• Roberto Frisancho, a Washington, D.C., researcher, who is representing himself.