US Supreme Court's Alito extends pause on Texas immigration law

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito on Tuesday extended a temporary pause on a Republican-backed Texas law allowing state law enforcement authorities to arrest people suspected of crossing the U.S.-Mexico border illegally.

Alito's action gives the justices additional time to weigh a request by President Joe Biden's administration to freeze a judicial order allowing the Texas law to take effect while its challenge proceeds in the lower courts. The administration has argued that the law violates the U.S. Constitution and federal law by interfering with the U.S. government's power to regulate immigration.

(Reporting by John Kruzel; Editing by Will Dunham)