On a five to three vote, the Supreme Court knocked out much of Arizona’s immigration law Monday—a modest policy victory for the Obama Administration. But on the more important matter of the Constitution, the decision was an 8-0 defeat for the Administration’s effort to upset the balance of power between the federal government and the states.

In Arizona v. United States, the majority overturned three of the four contested provisions of Arizona’s controversial plan to have state and local police enforce federal immigration law. The Constitutional principles that Washington alone has the power to “establish a uniform Rule of Naturalization” and that federal laws precede state laws are noncontroversial. Arizona had attempted to fashion state policies that ran parallel to the existing federal ones.

Justice Anthony Kennedy, joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and the Court’s liberals, ruled that the state flew too close to the federal sun. On the overturned provisions the majority held Congress had deliberately “occupied the field” and Arizona had thus intruded on the federal’s privileged powers.

However, the Justices said that Arizona police would be allowed to verify the legal status of people who come in contact with law enforcement. That’s because Congress has always envisioned joint federal-state immigration enforcement and explicitly encourages state officers to share information and cooperate with federal colleagues.

Two of the three objecting Justices—Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas—agreed with this Constitutional logic but disagreed about which Arizona rules conflicted with the federal statute. The only major objection came from Justice Antonin Scalia, who offered an even more robust defense of state privileges going back to the Alien and Sedition Acts.

The 8-0 objection to President Obama turns on what Justice Samuel Alito describes in his objection as “a shocking assertion of federal executive power”. The White House argued that Arizona’s laws conflicted with its enforcement priorities, even if state laws complied with federal statutes to the letter. In effect, the White House claimed that it could invalidate any otherwise legitimate state law that it disagrees with.

Some powers do belong exclusively to the federal government, and control of citizenship and the borders is among them. But if Congress wanted to prevent states from using their own resources to check immigration status, it could. It never did so. The Administration was in essence asserting that because it didn’t want to carry out Congress’s immigration wishes, no state should be allowed to do so either. Every Justice rightly rejected this remarkable claim. 

1.Three provisions of Arizona’s plan were overturned because they _________

A disturbed the power balance between different states.

B overstepped the authority of federal immigration law.

C deprived the federal police of Constitutional powers.

D contradicted both the federal and state policies.

解析：选B。B细节理解题。根据overturned定位到第二段，可知联邦法优先于州法，这是毫无争议的，而Arizona（美国亚利桑那州）曾试图制定与联邦法平行的州法，B项原因符合原文，故选B。

2.On which of the following did the Justices agree, according to Paragraph 4?

A Congress’s intervention in immigration enforcement.

B Federal officers’ duty to withhold immigrants’ information.

C States’ legitimate role in immigration enforcement.

D States’ independence from federal immigration law.

解析：选C。C推理判断题。根据题目定位到第四段，根据第一句可知大法官们表示，亚利桑那州的警方将被允许核实与执法部门接触者的身份。可推知大法官们认可各州在移民执法中的合法作用。C符合原文，故选C。

3.It can be inferred from Paragraph 5 that the Alien and Sedition Acts _________

A stood in favor of the states.

B supported the federal statute.

C undermined the states’ interests.

D violated the Constitution.

解析：选A。A细节理解题。根据题目和the Alien and Sedition Acts定位到第五段，可知其中一位法官为州政府的特权提供了更有力辩护，这些特权可以追溯到Alien and Sedition Acts，可知该法支持了州政府的特权，A符合原文，故选A。

4.The White House claims that its power of enforcement _________

A is dependent on the states’ support.

B is established by federal statutes.

C outweighs that held by the states.

D rarely goes against state laws.

解析：选C。C细节理解题。根据The White House定位到第六段，根据其最后两句可知白宫认为亚利桑那州的法律与自己的执法相冲突，还声称自己可以使任何州法律无效，C符合原文，故选C。

5.What can be learned from the last paragraph?

A Immigration issues are usually decided by Congress.

B The Administration is dominant over immigration issues.

C Justices wanted to strengthen its coordination with Congress.

D Justices intended to check the power of the Administration.

解析：选D。D推理判断题。根据题目定位到最后一段，可知对公民身份的控制的权利只属于联邦政府，但国会如果想要阻止各州检查移民身份，它也可以做到。本质上政府不想让政府执行，各州也不应该被允许。但大法官反对了这一主张。可知法官想要制衡政府的权利。D符合原文，故选D。