It’s no secret that if politicians like Nevada’s U.S. Senate GOP candidate, Sharron Angle, and GOP Republican Governor of Arizona Jan Brewer win tomorrow, common-sense, humane immigration reform may very well die on the vine. Angle is challenging Harry Reid by running a campaign grounded in xenophobic, anti-immigrant rhetoric. The Republican, Tea Party-backed candidate stokes fear of immigrants coming from the United States’ southern border, among white voters, in her television ads in particular.

And though Angle’s racist rants about the immigration issue have garnered a great deal of media exposure, the Arizona law which is fueling much of her campaign focus is where the real action needs to be.

Brewer, of course, has come out as a key player in the immigration debate as she managed to pass the highly contentious law this year.

Today, according to Washington Independent, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments on SB 1070, the Arizona immigration law which has stirred debate and anger across the country for its more controversial elements. Its these controversial pieces of the law which are at the heart of this hearing.

Brewer is in San Francisco today for the hearing to argue on behalf of keeping the law as is, and to remove the temporary injunction placed on part of the law. Present as well were lawyers for the U.S. Justice Department arguing their case to retain the injunction on significant portions of the law which, the federal government says, steps on federal immigration policy and “hurts foreign relations.” Specifically, the parts of the law which a federal judge earlier this year blocked include: requiring immigrants to carry their papers at all times, allowing police officers to make warrant-less arrests of “suspected” immigrants who are here illegally and allowing police officers to detain suspected immigrants until their status can be verified.

Advocates and immigrants have argued that these portions of the law encourage racial profiling, are inherently racist and xenophobic and have extremely harmful impacts on immigrant families in the United States. Women, men and children have testified in front of Congress, against the law; children have marched in the streets; many Hispanic legislators have been vocal in their opposition. Still, some have also noted that the constitutionality of SB 1070 is not at all cut-and-dried.

Brewer, in a statement released after the hearings concluded, said that, “Arizona is on the front line in a fight against crime that is spilling over the international border.” She also warned that, “The health, welfare and safety of the citizens of Arizona are irreparably harmed every day the courts allow SB 1070 to be put on hold and the federal government refuses to enforce all immigration laws.” Presumably she was not talking about the health, welfare and safety of those Hispanic residents in Arizona who may be caught up in the wide net cast by the provisions in SB 1070 which allow law enforcement officers the ability to stop and even detain those they feel may be in the state without the proper papers.

Judges questioned both sides, directing lawyers for the state of Arizona to walk them through, step by step, examples of circumstances where someone might be pulled over, in a car, for “reasonable suspicion” that this person is in the state illegally; and how the specific statutes do or don’t protect this person. One judge took issue with the Arizona lawyers’ contention that having a valid drivers license in this scenario would automatically allow the person who is pulled over to be released. The judge noted that the statute doesn’t say “this person is conclusively presumed not to be an alien [if they present a valid drivers license]…but that this person is presumed not be an alien. This can be rebutted, then, by the officer?”

The three-judge panel won’t rule on the case immediately, notes the Washington Independent. However, those with concern over the law – and more widely – immigration reform as a whole, may see change in the coming days when it comes to whether candidates like Sharron Angle and Jan Brewer win their races. Still, this country will need to face up to the failed immigration policies, xenophobia and not-so-latent racism which have created fertile ground for the birth of laws like SB 1070 and the campaigns run by Angle and others.