As President Biden prepares to sign an executive order on immigration, his administration asked the Supreme Court to drop two Trump-era immigration cases awaiting arguments.
The cases concerned the funding of the Mexican border wall as well as former President Donald Trump’s “remain in Mexico” policy, which allowed the Department of Homeland Security to prevent non-Mexican asylum seekers from crossing the border. The court is scheduled to hear the cases in February and March, respectively.
But it will no longer be necessary to consider the cases, acting Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar told the court in two motions sent to the Supreme Court late Monday night. In the border wall case, Prelogar cited Biden’s Jan. 20 immigration order halting funding to the wall and said that in light of that policy, it would be “appropriate” for the court to cease considering the Trump administration’s arguments in favor of the funding.
Prelogar filed a similar motion in the “remain in Mexico” case, citing DHS action contrary to Trump policies.
In both cases, Prelogar said that the parties pitted against the Trump administration agreed with the Biden administration that dropping the suits was the best course of action. The court has not replied to either motion but is expected to do so quickly.
Biden on Tuesday will also sign an executive order pushing for the reunification of families at the Mexican border. That order comes as a repudiation of Trump’s so-called family separation policy, which was an ongoing scandal throughout his presidency. The Supreme Court last year upheld the policy as litigation over its legality played out.
Although it is uncommon for new administrations to reverse course before the court, Biden’s is not the first to do. The Trump administration in 2017 took the opposite of the outgoing Obama administration’s positions on many Supreme Court cases, including those related to employment law, religious freedom, and voter registration.
