SCOTUS’ ruling on immigration could have big impact in Mass.

With some of his major legislative initiatives suffocated by Republican lawmakers, the Democratic president has resorted to executive action to get around Congress on issues including immigration, gun control and the Obamacare healthcare law.

The court, which has twice rejected challenges to Mr. Obamas health care law, will now rule on the presidents plan to protect millions of illegal immigrants from deportation and allow them to work indefinitely in the country legally.

They’re going to review the President’s Executive Order on immigration that’s been held up in the courts for over a year. 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 justices will consider previous orders by lower courts that blocked the immigration plan.

The administration will argue three main points: the states don’t have the legal standing to challenge the policy in federal court, the government followed appropriate procedure in implementing the executive actions and federal law grants the administration broad discretion on how to enforce immigration laws, according to CBS News.

A federal district court and then two panels of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit in New Orleans agreed with the states’ arguments.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican, said courts have long recognized the limits to presidential authority.

On Tuesday, advocates applauded the Supreme Court’s decision to hear the case and finally settle the immigrants’ fates.

The Supreme Court’s ruling could come about one month before both parties announce their candidates for president. They channeled resources toward stopping illegal border crossings, focused deportations on felons rather than families and made it easier for longtime undocumented immigrants to stay in the country if they are parents of USA citizens, lawful permanent residents, or were brought to the United States as minors. Obama also wanted to extend that protection to more immigrants who were brought here as children.

A win for the Obama administration would spur those on the right to push for the need to have a Republican in the White House to appoint more conservative justices. “Not just for our homes but in the U.S. We’d be stepping out of the shadow”.

In the latest Congressional mid-term elections in the U.S. in 2014, up to 25 million Latinos were eligible to vote, although voter turnout remains low.

Many states including Arizona, say the executive order is unconstitutional. “Our broken immigration system is bad for workers, families, and businesses”, said WDP Executive Director, Jose P. Garza, “We are confident they will rule in favor of hardworking immigration families and the administration’s commonsense executive actions”.