The Supreme Court on July 9 declined to overturn a lower court’s order blocking enforcement of a Florida law that makes it a state crime for an illegal immigrant to enter Florida.

The new decision in Uthmeier v. Florida Immigrant Coalition took the form of an unsigned order. The high court did not explain its decision. No justices dissented.

The justices turned away a June 17 emergency application by Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier asking to overturn U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams’s order blocking state officials from enforcing the law while a legal challenge remains pending in the lower courts.

Williams had ruled that the state law, known as SB 4-C, was at odds with the federal government’s exclusive authority on the subject of immigration and was probably unconstitutional.

A panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit declined to pause Williams’s ruling, finding the law was “likely” preempted, or overridden, by federal law.

The application said SB 4-C makes it a state-level criminal offense for someone who has entered the United States illegally to enter Florida and remain in the state. To respect federal authority, the law is silent on who should be admitted to or removed from U.S. territory. The law was “a measured effort by Florida” to safeguard state sovereignty, according to the application.

The application urged the Supreme Court to stay the district court’s order, saying it was “indefensible both on the merits and in its sweeping breadth.” If in the course of the litigation the 11th Circuit affirms, “there is a strong likelihood that this Court will reverse.”

States are allowed to enact laws aimed at stemming the flow of illegal immigration into their territory, the application stated. The Supreme Court has never held that the federal Immigration and Nationality Act “fully displaces the States from regulating in the field of alien movement, and nothing in SB 4-C poses a conflict with federal law,” the application said.

The America First Legal Foundation filed a brief supporting Florida’s application, arguing the state law is constitutional and urgently needed. The group was co-founded by Stephen Miller, a senior White House adviser who has been heavily involved in crafting President Donald Trump’s immigration policies.

The lower court was wrong to find that the Florida law, which actually complements federal law, was preempted by federal law, the brief said.

The brief quoted Trump’s Executive Order 14159, issued on Jan. 20, which is titled “Protecting the American People Against Invasion.”

Because the presence of illegal immigrants in the country “has cost taxpayers billions of dollars at the Federal, State, and local levels,” the United States has an “obligation to prioritize the safety, security, and financial and economic well-being of Americans,” including by working with “State and local law enforcement agencies,” the order said.

The brief said the state law advances the federal government’s interest in using “all available law enforcement tools to faithfully execute the immigration laws of the United States.”

The lead respondent, a group known as the Florida Immigrant Coalition, filed a brief urging the Supreme Court to deny the state’s application on the grounds that the state statute is unconstitutional. It noted that 13 years ago the Supreme Court struck down an Arizona law regulating immigration. The group is represented by the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation.

“Various states have passed laws like Florida Senate Bill 4-C in the last two years, and every single court to have considered them—including the district court, and the court of appeals, below—has faithfully applied Arizona v. United States, and this Court’s other decisions, holding the laws preempted,” the brief said.

Reuters contributed to this report.

This article by Matthew Vadum appeared July 9, 2025, in The Epoch Times.