Supreme Court won’t revive Obama plan to shield illegal immigrants from deportation
Robrt Barnes
President Obama suffered the biggest legal defeat of his administration Thursday when a deadlocked Supreme Court failed to revive his stalled plan to shield millions of undocumented immigrants from deportation and give them the right to work legally in the United States.
The justices’ votes were not announced, but the court’s liberals and conservatives split at oral argument this spring. The tie means that a lower court’s decision that Obama probably exceeded his powers in issuing the executive action keeps the plan from being implemented.
The court’s action crushed the hopes of about 4 million illegal immigrants estimated to be covered by Obama’s plan, which would have deferred deportation for those who have been in the country since 2010, have not committed any serious crimes and have family ties to U.S. citizens or others lawfully in the country.
Immigration already represents one of the flash points of the 2016 elections, with sharp distinctions between Democrats and Republicans, and the court’s action looks to further intensify the debate.
Obama responded to the Supreme Court’s news by vowing to continue other programs that put a top priority on deporting violent criminals rather than longtime residents who do not pose a threat to the country. He also sharply criticized congressional Republicans for refusing to consider his nominee to replace Justice Antonin Scalia, who died in February
“Today’s decision is frustrating to those who seek to grow our economy and bring a rationality to our immigration system, and to allow people to come out of the shadows and lift this perpetual cloud on them,” Obama told reporters in the White House briefing room after the court announced its nondecision. “I think it is heartbreaking for the millions of immigrants who’ve made their lives here, who’ve raised families here, who hoped for the opportunity to work, pay taxes, serve in our military, and more fully contribute to this country we all love in an open way.”
He faulted Senate Republicans for refusing to vote on his Supreme Court nominee Judge Merrick B. Garland and said they were “willfully preventing the Supreme Court from being fully staffed and functioning as our founders intended.”
The inability to issue a ruling in U.S. v. Texas is the most serious consequence to date of the Supreme Court’s shorthanded status. The delay in announcing the tie — the case was argued in mid-April — indicates that the court tried to find a compromise that could draw five votes.
Supporters of the administration had hoped that at least one of the conservative justices — perhaps Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. — would come to their aid by saying that Texas and the other states that challenged Obama’s executive action did not have the legal standing to sue. But there was little interest in that argument when the justices considered the case.
The eight-member court has deadlocked in four cases this term and has three more to decide when it concludes its work on Monday.
Left on the court’s agenda is the most important abortion case in 25 years, focused on clinic restrictions imposed by Texas that are similar to those in other states. The court is also deciding whether former Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell was wrongly convicted on corruption charges for the gifts and loans he and his family received from a Richmond businessman.
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