A deadlocked U.S. Supreme Court last month refused to rehear the outgoing President Barack Obama’s case to grant amnesty to certain illegal aliens after a lower court blocked his directive.
A coalition of 26 states, led by Texas, sued the government over his amnesty attempt. The lower court ruled that the president overstepped his authority when he tried to change the nation’s immigration laws, a power granted to the U.S. Congress.
Rather than spending his last days fighting a losing battle, the departing President Obama, vacating the White House in January, suspended litigation on the matter. From the Washington Times:
“Accordingly, the parties respectfully submit that further proceedings on the merits of this case, including the submission of a schedule for resolving the merits, should be stayed until February 20, 2017,” the Justice Department and lawyers for Texas said in a joint request of Judge Andrew S. Hanen.
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“Given the change in Administration, the parties jointly submit that a brief stay of any further litigation in this Court before beginning any further proceedings would serve judicial efficiency and economy so that the parties have a better understanding of how they might choose to move forward,” both sides said.
Americans who advocate immigration enforcement hope President-elect Donald Trump will cancel the soon-to-be ex-president’s directives and orders, and appoint U.S. Supreme Court justices committed to properly interpreting laws on the books. We also hope the new president respects the balance of power and doesn’t do this:
Mr. Obama had for years said he lacked the power to issue such a blanket amnesty, but discovered the power after his party suffered massive losses in the 2014 election.
The amnesty was declared not be executive order, but rather by a series of memos from the Homeland Security secretary.
Photo credit: By Arasmus Photo – Immigration Reform Leaders Arrested in Washington DCUploaded by Chzz, CC BY 2.0, Link