A deal reached in federal court Wednesday on an employer sanction law that was to take effect on Jan. 1 took a major political issue off the table for the Feb. 5 Arizona presidential primary.

Since Gov. Janet Napolitano (D), who recently endorsed Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), signed the law, several Arizona lawmakers, including the governor, have expressed their misgivings and their desire to amend it.

The Arizona law was widely viewed throughout the state as a response to the federal government’s inability to act on immigration and is the first state law of its kind. If it takes effect, similar legislation in neighboring border states would bring the issue to a head as competing state laws would likely force the federal government’s hand.

Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) efforts in the Senate hurt him back home, where his usually high favorability ratings plummeted below 50 percent after the Senate deal fell apart last summer. Since June, when McCain’s favorable rating bottomed out at 47 percent, the Arizona senator’s favorable ratings have climbed above 60 percent.

Though enforcement is being held off until March, a ruling on the constitutionality of the law could come before the primary and bring the issue back to the forefront. In December, the presiding judge in the case said he would have a decision by the end of January, but his decision could also be pushed back until the week of the primary.

Attorney Paul Eckstein of Perkins Coie Brown & Bain in Phoenix, who argued the case Wednesday, said the date of the primary “is not driving” the legal pace.

Eckstein noted that, despite the intent, the decision pulled the immigration issue back from the forefront “in a temporary way” because prosecutions that can be triggered by anonymous tips would not take effect until after the primary.