In a last-ditch effort to revive a White House plan to protect up to 4 million immigrants from deportation, the Obama administration on Monday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to rehear a case on which the eight-member court was split 4-4 last month….
In a filing, the Justice Department asked the court to take a second look at the case once it has a full complement of nine justices. It is unclear when that would be, as the Republican-controlled U.S. Senate has declined to act on Obama’s nominee, appeals court judge Merrick Garland. As such, even if the Supreme Court was to grant the request, it is unlikely to rule on the case until well after Obama leaves office in January….
Obama unveiled his plan in November 2014. It was quickly challenged in court by Republican-governed Texas and 25 other states that argued that Obama overstepped the powers granted to him by the U.S. Constitution by infringing upon the authority of Congress….
As a result of the high court’s 4-4 split, a 2015 lower-court ruling invalidating Obama’s plan was left in place. The plan never was implemented because the lower courts had blocked it.
The plan was tailored to let roughly 4 million people – those who have lived illegally in the United States at least since 2010, have no criminal record and have children who are U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents – get into a program that shields them from deportation and supplies work permits.
