Twenty six states — including Georgia — and the Obama administration are set to square off today before the U.S. Supreme Court over the president's plans to shield millions of immigrants without legal status from deportation.
The states are arguing President Barack Obama’s executive actions on immigration amount to an illegal end-run around Congress. Citing inaction by Congress, the Obama administration says the executive branch has broad discretion to set priorities when it comes to immigration.
Expected by the end of June, the implications of the court's decision in the case — styled United States v. Texas — are broad. First, the ruling could reflect how the court feels about presidential executive actions. And second, the court's decision could tip the balance of power between Congress and the White House.
“I doubt the Supreme Court will rule on the general authority of executive actions and the balance of power between the president and Congress,” said Cornell University Law School professor Stephen Yale-Loehr, co-author of a 21-volume immigration law treatise. “But people involved in other controversies involving executive actions, such as gun control or environmental policy, will certainly review the oral arguments in United States v. Texas closely to try to determine how legal challenges in those areas might fare.”
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