SCOTUS to Hear Immigration Case, Asian-American Leaders Respond

Cruz, a Harvard-trained lawyer and former Supreme Court clerk who once served as his state’s top advocate before the high court, said it was significant that the justices will decide whether Obama violated the U.S. Constitution’s requirement that presidents “take care that the laws be faithfully executed”.

If overturned, programs like DAPA would give temporary residency to undocumented immigrants who are parents: as long as they’ve been here since 2010 or before, and their children are already legal citizens.

A coalition of 26 mostly conservative states, led by Texas, has been successful in lower court challenges.

The states have thus far been successful in fighting implementation of the executive orders, which shelter those two immigrant groups from deportation and allow them to seek work permits.

The Supreme Court announced today they will hear United States v. Texas early next week and are expected to hand down a ruling in June. The state argues that it can sue the administration because it would have to pay for new drivers’ licenses for half a million people in Texas who would suddenly gain the right to a work permit, which would cost the state millions. “We will be representing members of Congress and thousands of Americans in a brief urging the Supreme Court to uphold the appeals court decision – and put a stop to the impermissible overreach that has been the hallmark of this president”. These actions fall well within President Obama’s Constitutional powers, and the Republican governors promoting this lawsuit are trying to use the courts to push a political agenda.

The case challenges President Obama’s expanded Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals and Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents programs which were announced more than a year ago. The Supreme Court will have the final say later this year. That would be about a month before the national Republican and Democratic parties select their presidential nominees ahead of the national election in November to pick Obama’s successor.

The U.S. solicitor general, Donald Verrilli Jr., said in his Supreme Court filing that allowing the lower court rulings to stand would force millions of people “to continue to work off the books, without the option of lawful employment to provide for their families”.

In declaring the strategy, Mr Obama said it might let those that qualify to “come from the shadows and get right with all the law”.

While Republican presidential candidates have vowed to dismantle the program if elected, the Democratic candidates have said they will see they will ensure DAPA remains in effect.