Democratic leaders in Congress predicted Tuesday that the Supreme Court would uphold President Obama’s executive action on immigration, and argued that previous presidents have used the same authority to tweak U.S. immigration procedures.
“Democrats are confident that the Supreme Court will recognize the legality and necessity of the President’s executive actions for immigrant families,” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said in a statement following the Court’s decision to review the 5th Circuit Court’s 2-1 ruling against Obama’s executive action.
“The fact is that these actions fall well within the president’s broad authority and the clear legal precedent established by every administration, Republican and Democratic, since President Eisenhower,” Pelosi said.
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., also a supporter of Obama’s action, said Obama’s controversial move in 2014 was based on “well-established constitutional authority.” Reid said instead of challenging the law, as 26 Republican-led states have done, the GOP should help pass a comprehensive immigration reform bill, something Republicans have rejected.
“If Republicans are truly interested in fixing our broken immigration system, they should work with Democrats to pass legislation that would render the president’s executive actions unnecessary,” Reid said.
In the meantime, Republicans are hoping the high court upholds the 5th Circuit decision, which has temporarily halted Obama’s plan to affirmatively allow five million illegal immigrants to stay in the U.S. and work while the legal case against the action continues.
“Pres. Obama’s executive amnesty is unconstitutional,” House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis, tweeted. “I hope #SCOTUS upholds the 5th Circuit’s decision.”
Republicans have refused to take up comprehensive immigration while Obama is president, in part because they believe he circumvented their legal authority by moving on his own to defer deportations.
“President Obama’s executive action is an affront to our system of republican self-government,” Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, a senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said following the Supreme Court’s decision to take up the case. “The Constitution vests legislative authority in Congress, not the president.”
