The Supreme Court has finally announced its decision on the controversial case United States v. Texas (No. 15-674), and in effect, on the future of the Obama administration’s Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA) program as well. This program was an attempt by the President, through executive action, to shield close to five million undocumented immigrants from deportation, while simultaneously allowing them to legally work, similar to the administration’s previous program, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). In a single statement per curium opinion however, the Court notes that the Fifth Circuit’s judgement–ordering an injunction of DACA’s expansion and DAPA’s launch–is “affirmed by an equally divided Court.” While the 4 to 4 deadlock means the injunction will remain in place, the precedential value of this decision going forward on jurisdictions outside of the Fifth Circuit is negligible at best, and ambiguous at worst. Whatever the ruling’s effect on the president’s authority to act unilaterally, it seems assured that President Obama’s successor will inherit the task of reworking the nation’s immigration system.
The President made a brief statement to press in response to the Court’s decision, available here.