The Obama administration on Monday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to rehear the legal case over the president's executive actions on immigration when it has a full complement of justices.
The court deadlocked 4-4 last month over the case, which centers on President Barack Obama's plans to temporarily shield from deportation millions of immigrants living without legal status in the U.S. The late Justice Antonin Scalia's seat remains vacant.
“This filing is consistent with historical practice and reflects the need for prompt and definitive resolution of this important case,” Justice Department spokeswoman Melanie Newman said in a prepared statement.
Led by Texas, 26 states — including Georgia — fought to block Obama’s executive actions in court last month, arguing they amount to an unconstitutional end run around Congress. Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens’ office had no immediate comment about the federal government’s request for a do-over.
“The Obama administration does not have to simply accept the Supreme Court’s failure to rule,” David Leopold, an immigration attorney who is the past president and past general counsel of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, wrote on the online news site Medium after the court’s ruling last month. “It can — indeed should — immediately file a motion for reargument before the court to take place once a ninth justice is confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Granted, given the continued obstruction by Senate Republicans, a new justice may not be seated for several months and possibly not until the next president is sworn in.”
President Franklin Roosevelt’s administration successfully asked for two such rehearings during the New Deal, said Walter Dellinger, who served as solicitor general during President Bill Clinton’s administration.
“This battle is not over,” Dellinger wrote for Slate last month. “The Department of Justice should consider taking a step it has rarely taken: filing a motion asking the court to reconsider the decision and further asking the court to defer acting on the petition until there is a full complement of justices.”
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