PHOENIX — Parts of a controversial Arizona immigration law took effect Thursday but the arguments on both sides of the issue got even louder.

On this everyone agrees: Arizona will appeal a federal judge’s ruling that blocked several of the measure’s most controversial provisions. And that appeal likely will make it all the way to the Supreme Court.

“We’ll win on appeal,” said Arizona state Sen. Russell Pearce, who wrote the law, known as SB 1070.

“I got news for the anarchists,” he added. “Our laws will be enforced.”

But Isabel Garcia, an immigrants’ rights activist and a legal defender in Pima County, said she is confident that Wednesday’s ruling by U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton will prevail under appeal.

“The court will not allow the state of Arizona to criminalize undocumented immigrants,” Garcia told CNN.

The judge’s ruling “gutted” the Arizona law, Garcia said.

The preliminary injunction issued Wednesday prevents police from questioning people’s immigration status if there is reason to believe they are in the country illegally.

Bolton also blocked provisions of the law making it a crime for people to fail to apply for or carry “alien registration papers” or “for an unauthorized alien to solicit, apply for, or perform work,” as well as a provision “authorizing the warrantless arrest of a person” if there is reason to believe that person might be subject to deportation.

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer said the state would file an expedited appeal to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The parts of the law that take effect Thursday include a ban on so-called “sanctuary cities” — municipalities with laws or policies that render them relatively safe for undocumented immigrants.

Pearce noted that provision in the judge’s ruling.

“It was still a victory for Arizona,” he told CNN’s “Newsroom AM” program.

The judge also allowed a provision in the law that makes it illegal to hire day laborers who are in the country illegally. The parts of the law dealing with sanctions for employers who hire illegal immigrants also withstood the first legal test.

Despite the judge’s ruling — or perhaps because of it — tensions remained elevated Thursday.

Several demonstrators who oppose the immigration law were arrested Thursday afternoon in downtown Phoenix, where police blocked off several downtown streets and officers in riot gear were deployed throughout the area.

From the other side of the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border, the governor of Sonora state noted that the law has produced “much tension” between the two state governments.

“It puts a lot of tension to border states like Sonora,” he told CNN.

CNN senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin said the ruling reflects the government’s argument that immigration enforcement should be dealt with at the federal level.

“Arizona may have good intentions, they may be trying to make up for where the U.S. government has failed, but what the judge is saying is, this is not the way to do it,” he said

“I think this [is] a case very much destined for the Supreme Court,” as other states pass similar laws, Toobin said.

Pearce, author of the law, said he foresaw a protracted legal fight from the beginning.

“I wrote it to go to the Supreme Court,” he said before the ruling came down. “I’m begging for that fistfight at the Supreme Court. We will win in a 5-4 decision and finally settle this problem.”

He added, “My message to the judge, is uphold the Constitution. Uphold states’ rights. This is a battle of epic proportions. This is the states versus the central government.”

The federal appeals court could take up the case in a matter of days, but the earliest the Supreme Court could look at it would be October, because the high court is in summer recess.

Brewer said she was disappointed by the ruling.

“This fight is far from over. In fact, it is just the beginning, and at the end of what is certain to be a long legal struggle, Arizona will prevail in its right to protect our citizens,” she said in a statement. “I am deeply grateful for the overwhelming support we have received from across our nation in our efforts to defend against the failures of the federal government.”

Another supporter of the law, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, said that he and his crusade against illegal immigration will not be deterred.

“I am not really disappointed about the judge’s decision,” Arpaio said. “I know what my policies are, and we are going to continue doing what we have been doing.”

The Justice Department issued a statement saying the court “ruled correctly.”

“While we understand the frustration of Arizonans with the broken immigration system, a patchwork of state and local policies would seriously disrupt federal immigration enforcement and would ultimately be counterproductive,” the statement said. “States can and do play a role in cooperating with the federal government in its enforcement of the immigration laws, but they must do so within our constitutional framework.”