On Tuesday, Judge Clark Waddoups (photo) of the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah announced that he would hold off issuing a ruling in the case challenging Utah’s recently enacted immigration statute until the Supreme Court hands down its decision in the case against the Arizona statute currently pending.

In his order, Judge Waddoups explained that:

Although Arizona’s law is different from Utah’s law in several respects, some aspects are sufficiently similar that the Supreme Court’s ruling likely will inform this court in its decision. Because this case addresses significant constitutional issues, the court does not believe it would be helpful to the parties for the court to rule on the present motions before it receives the additional guidance from the Supreme Court. It therefore will reserve ruling until the Supreme Court has issued its decision.

According to a report published by the Salt Lake Tribune:

The hearing on HB497 pitted U.S. Department of Justice lawyers and attorneys with the National Immigration Law Center (NILC) and the American Civil Liberties Union of Utah against Attorney General Mark Shurtleff’s office when they argued for more than six hours in federal court Friday.

The law (H.B. 497) — entitled the “Utah Illegal Immigration Enforcement Act” — was passed by the Utah legislature and signed by Gov. Gary Herbert in March 2011, but almost immediately was enjoined from enforcement when Judge Waddoups granted the ACLU and the NILC a temporary restraining order.

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