Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange yesterday asked a federal court to require the plaintiffs in the lawsuit against Alabama’s new immigration law to provide a more definite statement as to which plaintiffs are suing which defendants and upon which grounds. In a motion filed yesterday, the Attorney General described the complaint as “a disfavored shotgun pleading” much of which is inappropriately vague and immaterial.The Attorney General filed the motion in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama in the case of Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama et al. v. Robert Bentley.  The lawsuit concerns a challenge to Alabama Act No. 2011-535, titled the Beason-Hammon Alabama Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act.

Attorney General Strange said he hopes the court will act upon his motion before ruling on the plaintiffs’ request that was filed this morning for a preliminary injunction to halt enforcement of the immigration law. “The plaintiffs need to provide a clearer picture of legal issues to be addressed so that this litigation may be handled in an appropriate and efficient way that does not waste the Court’s time and resources.”