(AP) -- A federal judge has blocked several provisions of South Carolina's tough new immigration law from taking effect New Year's Day.
U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel on Thursday granted the federal government's request for an injunction.
The ruling applies to portions that require law officers to check the status of anyone they stop for something else and suspect is in the country illegally. Gergel also halted the implementation of sections pertaining to the transportation of illegal immigrants and immigrant registration cards.
Gergel has denied the state's request that he suspend all court hearings on the case until the U.S. Supreme Court rules on a challenge to Arizona's similar law. South Carolina prosecutors have said the nation's high court will likely rule in six months or less.
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