Arizona Republicans Gov. Jan Brewer, right, answers a question regarding the latest on the new... 
(AP)
A federal appeals court has decided not to step into the controversy over Arizona's tough immigration law until November, leaving state officials to consider other steps they might take in the meantime.
Republican Gov. Jan Brewer, who signed the law and appealed a ruling blocking its most controversial sections, said Friday she would consider changes to "tweak" the law to respond to the parts U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton faulted.
"Basically we believe (the law) is constitutional but she obviously pointed out faults that can possibly be fixed, and that's what we would do," Brewer told The Associated Press. She said she's talking to legislative leaders about the possibility of a special session, but said no specific changes had been identified.
In her temporary injunction Wednesday, Bolton delayed the most contentious provisions of the law, including a section that required officers to check a person's immigration status while enforcing other laws. Bolton indicated the federal government's case has a good chance at succeeding in its argument that federal immigration law trumps state law.
Brewer has said she'll challenge the decision all the way to the Supreme Court.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said in an order late Friday that it will hold a hearing on Brewer's challenge in the first week of November. Briefs from the state are due Aug. 26.
Brewer had asked for an expedited appeals process, with a hearing scheduled for the week of Sept. 13. State lawyers had argued that the appeal involves an issue of "significant importance" — the state's right to implement a law to address "the irreparable harm Arizona is suffering as a result of unchecked unlawful immigration."
The federal government countered that there was no need to expedite the matter because "the only effect of the district court's injunction in this case is to preserve a status quo that has existed for a long period of time."
