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This may help provide some understanding of the Feds and their legal strategy/authority. I have not read the Complaint - but I do recall from years ago the concept of congress "occupying the field."
That is, there is a concept in the area of constitutional law commonly referred to as Federal preemption...
Preemption is the rule of law that states that if the federal government - through Congress - has enacted legislation on a subject matter it shall be controlling over state laws and/or preclude the state from enacting laws on the same subject if Congress has "occupied the field."
It may be argued that the Feds have occupied the field in the area of immigration law (although they have chosen to selectively enforce the federal immigration statutes), thus, the AZ statute may be found to be constitutionally invalid.
As I say, I have neither the time nor the inclination to read what the Justice Department has filed, but I did want to share the notion that there may be legal precedent for the suit.
Hope this helps.
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