MCRI ·
Supreme Court rejects rehearing in Obama deportation amnesty case
Stephen Dinan
Washington Times
October 3, 2016
The Supreme Court shot down the administration’s effort to kick-start President Obama’s deportation amnesty, refusing Monday to grant a rehearing in a case the court deadlocked on just a few months ago.
The refusal lets stand the decision by an appeals court, which found Mr. Obama broke immigration law by trying to grant a three-year amnesty from deportation and to issue work permits to as many as 5 million illegal immigrants.
Mr. Obama and his team had hoped the justices would reconsider after a 4-4 deadlock at the high court in June, but the justices declined the request as part of a long list of refusals on the first day of their 2016 session.
“The Obama administration’s unprecedented attempt to rewrite federal immigration law failed yet again today,” said Carrie Severino, chief counsel at the Judicial Crisis Network. “It’s fitting that the Texas immigration case, which typifies this administration’s relentless overreach, met its end in a wordless denial by the Supreme Court.”
Things could have gone worse for the administration. Had Justice Antonin Scalia not died, it’s possible the court would have ruled 5-4 against Mr. Obama in June, issuing an opinion that could have permanently curtailed presidential powers.