President Obama’s executive order protecting four million undocumented immigrants from deportation will be reviewed this year by the Supreme Court, the body’s justices announced Tuesday.
The high court agreed to hear the White House’s appeal of a November 2015 decision by the US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. That ruling upheld a District Judge’s move to enjoin the so-called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)—first issued in 2012, and expanded in November 2014.
The Presidential decree was challenged in February 2015 by state officials from Texas and 25 other Republican-led states.
The Supreme Court’s decision to hear the administration’s appeal means President Obama will have one last shot at defending one of his most significant executive actions. If SCOTUS upholds the order, DACA could even take effect before he leaves office.
Justices on Tuesday instructed parties to focus their upcoming arguments on Republicans’ terms–on “whether the Guidance violates the Take Care Clause of the Constitution,” which instructs the president to faithfully execute the laws of the country.
The White House has countered, saying that immigration enforcement is exclusively the domain of the federal government, not the states, and that the Constitution gives the executive branch prosecutorial discretion.
A ruling is expected in June.
