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The Associated Press is reporting the California Supreme Court has granted a law license to an undocumented immigrant who graduated from law school and passed the state bar exam.

The decision means Sergio Garcia can begin practicing law despite his immigration status.

Garcia had challenged a 1996 federal law that bars people living in the country illegally from receiving professional licenses from government agencies or with the use of public funds, unless state lawmakers vote otherwise.

Garcia arrived in the U.S. illegally 20 years ago to pick almonds with his father and worked at a grocery store and in the fields while attending school.

In an interesting twist in this case, the Obama administration opposed granting a law license to Garcia.

Attorneys for the federal government argued the California court, which is in charge of licensing attorneys, could not act because it was funded by taxpayer money and would be in violation of the existing law.

Scott Shafer of KQED San Francisco reports that:

... while Garcia is now free to be sworn in as a lawyer in the state and perform pro bono work and other legal duties, the decision doesn’t address whether he can be paid for his work.

Jerome Fishkin, whose law firm represented Garcia pro bono for part of the case, told Shafter that Garcia will not be able to be employed by a law firm, either.

“Sergio has been quietly working his way through the system his entire adult life,” Fishkin said. “Because he’s an undocumented immigrant, he got no government loans, no scholarships; he did every kind of work he had to do to get himself through community college, Chico State, and the law school.”

The state's Supreme Court decision can be read here.