WASHINGTON -- California voters took a constitutional dare Tuesday, enacting a sweeping attack on illegal immigrants' rights, but two judges reacted swiftly yesterday and blocked Proposition 187 as protesters massed in the streets.
In the face of arguments that the move to take away most public benefits for illegal aliens in California might be struck down in court, the state's voters approved the measure by 59 percent to 41 percent.
Proposition 187 already has sparked street protests in California, as well as an anti-American protest at a McDonald's restaurant in Mexico City. Police were on a high alert in Los Angeles yesterday as protesting youths gathered in city streets and civic leaders pleaded for calm.
Within hours after the measure passed, at least 10 legal challenges were filed in state and federal courts -- a flurry of activity to open a courtroom campaign that almost certainly is headed for the U.S. Supreme Court.
One of the initial court challenges led a state judge in San Francisco, Stuart Pollak, to forbid state officials to enforce a Proposition 187 command that about 300,000 children of illegal aliens be expelled from public schools and that illegal-alien students be expelled from public colleges and universities in California.
Soon after, U.S. District Judge Matthew Byrne Jr. said no part of Proposition 187 could be enforced until at least after another court hearing next Wednesday on challenges to the entire measure.
In the San Francisco case in state court, lawyers had told Judge Pollak that, unless he acted quickly, "the unconstitutional exclusion of thousands of children is imminent." The judge's temporary bar to enforcement applies statewide and will keep the education ban in limbo at least until he holds a hearing on the next step -- a hearing set for early February. Thus, it appeared that the legal battle will be prolonged.
While Judge Pollak was acting, a coalition of civil rights groups and other organizations filed an even broader challenge in federal court in Los Angeles, leading Judge Byrne to put a hold on all parts of the measure. The federal court challenge contended that the measure interfered with federal power over immigration and violated the constitutional rights of undocumented aliens in California. Several other lawsuits were filed simultaneously, in Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Some of Proposition 187's supporters had conceded that the measure involved constitutional risk-taking. But they said one of the goals was to test whether the Supreme Court had changed its mind in recent years about the rights of illegal aliens living in the United States.
In a 5-4 ruling in 1982 in a Texas case, the court declared that children of illegal aliens have an equal right to go to free public schools. That decision had relied in part upon the Supreme Court's famous 1954 ruling ordering desegregation of public schools.
Proposition 187 supporters, however, have noted that only one of the five justices in the majority in 1982 -- John Paul Stevens -- remains on the court, while two of the dissenters -- William H. Rehnquist, now chief justice, and Justice Sandra Day O'Connor -- remain.
The new measure not only would shut illegal aliens out of public education; it also would deny them health care (except in emergencies) and a variety of other social benefits. In addition, the measure requires state and local agencies to report aliens who are believed to be in the country illegally, and criminalizes the creation of false citizenship or residence papers.
In Judge Pollak's state court, challengers aimed only at the ban on education benefits. The judge put that ban on hold temporarily, commenting in court that the Supreme Court's 1982 ruling in the Texas case raised serious doubts about that part of the measure.
The campaign fight over Proposition 187 has been a bitter one, leading some opponents to complain of a new outbreak of racism or "nativism," and causing supporters to respond that illegal aliens are criminals undeserving of public benefits.
Among the groups calling for calm yesterday in the wake of the measure's passage was the National Immigration Forum, an opponent of the proposition. Angela Kelley, the group's policy director, said the adoption of the measure should not cause the community of immigrants in California to "go into a panic."
Popular support in the state for Proposition 187 helped carry one of its key backers, Republican Gov. Pete Wilson, back into a new term. He had said that the proposal was designed to "send a message to Washington" about the need to curb the flow of illegal aliens into the United States.
The measure also was an issue in the state's tight race for a U.S. Senate seat, barely won by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, an opponent of the proposition, over Michael Huffington, a supporter.