Thread: Senate GOP files Supreme Court brief against Obama’s immigration actions

By Seung Min Kim
04/04/16 02:31 PM EDT
Updated 04/04/16 02:58 PM EDT

Senate Republicans are wading into the contentious court fight over President Barack Obama’s executive actions on immigration by filing a legal brief with the Supreme Court that declares Obama’s controversial moves a “stark contravention to federal law.”

The amicus brief is a significant assertion from most members of the Senate GOP conference that Obama’s executive actions — whose future depends on the eight justices now sitting on the Supreme Court — should be ruled unconstitutional.

The key point from the nearly four dozen GOP senators who signed the brief is that Obama, through his immigration programs, is essentially making law from the White House, threatening the separation of powers laid out by the Constitution.

“There is little doubt that [Obama] adopted the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (“DAPA”) program as part of an explicit effort to circumvent the legislative process,” the Republicans’ friend-of-the-court brief, to be released later Monday, says.

The legal push was spearheaded by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who circulated a Dear Colleague letter last month that urged fellow Republicans to sign on. In the letter, he called Obama’s actions a “brazen challenge” to Congress’s law-making powers.“

Not only is the President’s blatant refusal to follow those laws an extraordinary and virtually unprecedented power grab, it is a direct attack on our constitutional order,” McConnell wrote in the Dear Colleague letter, obtained by POLITICO. “The Senate has a duty to ensure that the President faithfully enforces the laws that Congress enacts.”

McConnell also argues that Obama’s executive actions are “unprecedented” in their scope. The prime argument from Democrats has been that presidents dating back to Dwight Eisenhower have taken some form of so-called “deferred action” to protect immigrants from being deported. But McConnell argues that the latest actions, announced in November 2014 but on hold since due to a federal court order, are not comparable to actions from previous chief executives.

Of the 54-member Senate GOP Conference, 43 senators endorsed the brief. The 11 Republicans who did not sign appear to have disparate reasons for doing so. For instance, Sens. Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, Richard Burr of North Carolina, Mark Kirk of Illinois, Rob Portman of Ohio and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania are all Republicans running for reelection in swing states, where endorsing the immigration brief could open them up to attack from Democrats hoping to capitalize on support from Latino voters.

Among others who did not sign the brief, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska are among the more moderate members of the Republican conference, while Cory Gardner of Colorado and Dean Heller of Nevada represent Latino-heavy states. Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake, who also did not endorse the brief, is an ardent Republican advocate of immigration reform, though he has expressed concern with Obama’s unilateral actions. Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa also did not sign on.

Oral arguments in the high-stakes case will be held at the Supreme Court on April 18. The legal case against Obama’s actions was triggered by a lawsuit led by the state of Texas and now joined by more than two dozen GOP-led states. If allowed to go through, the programs would give work permits to potentially more than four million immigrants here illegally but who came to the United States as children or are parents to U.S. citizens or permanent residents.

More than 200 Democratic lawmakers from both the House and Senate have submitted multiple amicus briefs backing Obama’s actions. Meanwhile, the Republican-led House of Representatives voted last month on a resolution that greenlights an amicus brief arguing against the Obama administration.


http://www.politico.com/story/2016/0...gration-221536

Think they are finally getting it? Thank you Donald!

3/28/16

Supreme Court brief filed by 26-state Coalition at unlawful immigration scheme

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Capitol Hill Buzz: Joining Immigration Fight Against Obama

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON — Apr 4, 2016, 9:12 PM ET

Forty-three Republican senators on Monday joined the legal challenge to President Barack Obama's actions on immigration, arguing that the president overstepped his constitutional authority in unilaterally expanding programs for immigrants.

The White House has countered that Obama had no choice after comprehensive legislation that passed the Senate in 2013 stalled in the GOP-led House.

The senators, led by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the case of United States v. Texas. A lawsuit from 26 states, led by Texas, challenges Obama's actions, with the Supreme Court set to hear arguments later this month and possibly rule in June.

"Because the executive's orders contravene the letter and the spirit of the immigration laws, and threaten the separation of powers enshrined in the Constitution," the senators said they submitted the brief.

Obama acted in late 2014 to allow people who have been in the United States more than five years and who have children in the country legally to "come out of the shadows and get right with the law." He also announced the expansion of a program that affects people who came here illegally as children.

Last month, the House voted 234-186 to authorize Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., to file a similar friend-of-the-court brief. Ryan's office said late Monday that the brief had been filed.

Immigration has roiled the GOP presidential campaign, with Donald Trump calling for removing millions of immigrants living in the U.S. illegally, accusing some Mexican immigrants of being rapists and murderers, and pledging to build a wall along the U.S. border that he will make Mexico pay for.

After losing the Hispanic vote badly in the 2012 election, Republican leaders insisted the party needed to be more inclusive for a diverse electorate if the GOP had any hope of winning the presidency. A bipartisan group of senators crafted a broad overhaul of immigration that boosted border security, increased visas for legal immigrants and a provided a path to citizenship for the 11 million immigrants living in the country illegally.

Among the GOP senators who worked on the legislation were Marco Rubio of Florida, John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. All three were among the 43 backing the legal brief and challenge to the president.

Not signing onto the brief were four of the more vulnerable Republicans facing re-election — Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, Mark Kirk of Illinois, Rob Portman of Ohio and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania. Also among the 11 who didn't sign on were Jeff Flake of Arizona, Dean Heller of Nevada and Cory Gardner of Colorado, all states with a significant Hispanic population.

Capitol Hill Buzz: Joining Immigration Fight Against Obama - ABC News

I think that they file these things for show...nothing ever happens. Remember the IRS hearings?....