South Carolina officials want a federal appeals court to overturn a judge's order putting parts of the state's tough new immigration law on hold.
Attorney General Alan Wilson made the request in papers filed last week with the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
In December, U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel blocked sections that make it a state crime not to carry immigration paperwork or for illegal immigrants to transport or house themselves. He also blocked a requirement that officers check the immigration status of people they pull over if officers suspect they are in the country illegally.
Parts of the law took effect Jan. 1. Gergel has delayed a lawsuit over the law pending the outcome of a U.S. Supreme Court decision on a similar challenge in Arizona.
