The Supreme Court on Tuesday said it will review President Obama’s executive action that allows millions of illegal immigrants to stay in the United States.
By taking up the case, United States v. Texas, justices have made it possible that a decision can be handed down before the end of the court’s current term in June — right smack in the middle of the election year, and just weeks before Republicans and Democrats meet to formally choose their party’s presidential nominees.
Announced in late 2014, the executive action expanded the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, and created a new program for parents who came to the U.S. illegally but had children in the United States.
Obama’s executive action, which came just weeks after Republicans took over control of the Senate, has generated a fierce debate over the immigration issue as well as the broader constitutional question of the limits of presidential power.
The administration has sought to justify the action by arguing that instructing law enforcement agents to hold off on deporting certain populations represented prosecutorial discretion, as agents often make decisions about how aggressively to apply all laws given limited resources. But challengers have argued that by issuing an executive order that applied this concept so broadly, Obama was effectively rewriting immigration law without Congress.
Twenty-six states led by Texas filed a lawsuit to block the order, and a federal judge issued a hold on key parts of the program in February until the case is decided.
In agreeing to hear the case, justices asked lawyers for both sides to be prepared to argue the question of whether the guidance issued by Obama violates the “take care” clause of the Constitution, which dictates that the president “shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed.”
Democratic members of Congress and outside groups who support the president’s immigration executive actions hailed the Supreme Court’s action, predicting that it would uphold the new legal status for nearly five million immigrants.
“We are very pleased that the Supreme Court has agreed to her this case,” Reps. John Conyers, D-Mich., and Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., said in a statement. “We are confident the Court will see through the dubious legal and procedural arguments by lower courts and find the President’s actions fully comport with U.S. immigration law and the Constitution.”
“Permitting these programs to move forward will provide an important measure of certainty for millions of Americans and their immigrant families,” they added.
Conyers and Lofgren are the ranking member of the House Judiciary and the ranking member of the immigration and border security subcommittee, respectively.
Correction: An earlier version of this story mistated the day this announcement was made.
Susan Crabtree contributed
