WHEN BUSINESS LICENSING LAW AND IMMIGRATION COLLIDE: SUB-FEDERAL EMPLOYER SANCTIONS LEGISLATION IN THE WAKE OF CHAMBER OF COMMERCE V. WHITING

A license is defined as any “right or permission granted in accordance with law . . . to engage in some business or occupation, to do some act, or to engage in some transaction which but for such license would be unlawful.”1 Generally, business licenses form a relatively benign background to state and local economies. Depending on the state, licensing may control everything from ability to hire to the permission to operate a business at all. Thus, licenses allow states to wield a tremendous amount of economic and political control. View More