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SUSAN WALSH/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Immigration advocates rally in front of the U.S. Supreme Court as the justices consider whether to hear an appeal over President Obama’s executive actions on immigration.
Supreme Court Will Rule On Obama’s Immigration Policy Before 2016 Election
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama’s executive actions on immigration, stuck in legal limbo for the past year, will get a Supreme Court hearing before the 2016 presidential election.
The justices announced their decision to hear the case, known as United States v. Texas, on Tuesday, after their private conference meeting Friday morning. For weeks, the federal government and Texas had fought a procedural battle over whether the justices should take up the case before the end of June, the close of the court’s current term.
The president can now seek Supreme Court vindication of his decision in November 2014 to defer the deportation of millions of undocumented immigrants, who have waited for years for comprehensive immigration reform.
But the court added an unexpected wrinkle when it agreed to hear the case: It asked the federal government and the states suing it to address whether the executive actions on immigration violate the Constitution’s take care clause — an issue that was not definitively decided by lower courts that have ruled on the case. This means lawyers for both sides will essentially have to argue whether Obama’s decision to defer deportation is an abdication of his duties as chief executive.READ MORE
