Thread: Court Rules AGAINST Obama Immigration Plan

by Stephen Dinan - The Washington Times - Tuesday, November 10, 2015

A federal appeals court said President Obama's own words claiming powers to "change the law" were part of the reason it struck down his deportation amnesty, in a ruling late Monday that reaffirmed the president must carry out laws and doesn't have blanket powers to waive them.

The 2-1 ruling by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals punctures Mr. Obama's immigration plans and is the latest in a series of major court rulings putting limits on the president's claims of expansive executive powers to enact his agenda without having to get congressional buy-in.

In an opinion freighted with meaning for the separation of powers battles, Judge Jerry E. Smith, writing for himself and Judge Jennifer Walker Elrod, singled out Mr. Obama's own claim that he acted to rewrite the law because Congress wouldn't pass the bill he wanted.

The key remark came in a speech in Chicago just days after his Nov. 20, 2014, announcement detailing his executive actions. Fed up with a heckler who was chiding him for boosting the number of deportations, Mr. Obama fired back, agreeing that he'd overseen a spike in deportations.

"But what you are not paying attention to is the fact that I just took an action to change the law," the president said.

The two judges said the Justice Department failed to explain away Mr. Obama's remarks.

"At oral argument, and despite being given several opportunities, the attorney for the United States was unable to reconcile that remark with the position that the government now takes," Judge Smith wrote.

Whether Mr. Obama acted within the law is the crux of the case.

Texas and 25 other states, which sued to stop the amnesty, argue Mr. Obama went beyond the boundaries set in the Immigration and Nationality Act, which sets out specific instances where, on a case-by-case basis, the Homeland Security secretary can waive penalties and allow illegal immigrants to stay, granting them work permits which then entitle them to Social Security cards, tax credits and state driver's licenses.

A federal district court in Texas agreed with the states, halting Mr. Obama's policy, and now an appeals court has also sided with the states.

Writing in dissent on Monday, Judge Carolyn Dineen King dismissed Mr. Obama's claim that he changed the law, saying presidents often use imprecise language when talking about laws. She said Mr. Obama wasn't making a legal argument in his response to the heckler.

Mr. Obama's plan, known officially as Deferred Action for Parental Arrivals, or DAPA, was intended to grant up to 5 million illegal immigrants a proactive three-year stay of deportation and to give them work permits, allowing them to come out of the shadows and join American society — though they were still considered to be in the country illegally. To qualify, illegal immigrants had to be parents of U.S. citizens or legal permanent resident children.

The president characterized his plan as a use of prosecutorial discretion, reasoning that he was never going to deport them anyway, so they should be granted some more firm status.

But the court ruled that he not only didn't follow the usual rules in making a major policy change, but that his claims of power to grant tentative legal status to a massive class of people went beyond the waiver powers Congress granted him in the law.

Monday's decision is already reverberating across the presidential debate, with Hispanic-rights activists insisting Mr. Obama file an immediate appeal to the Supreme Court, and vowing to make immigration an issue in the 2016 election.

The top three Democratic candidates for president had already said they not only thought what Mr. Obama was doing was legal, but they had vowed to go beyond it and expand the amnesty to still more illegal immigrants. GOP candidates, meanwhile, have vowed to repeal Mr. Obama's policies.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...rtation-amnes/

by CAROLINE MAY
10 Nov 2015

Republican lawmakers are cheering a federal appeals court decision preventing the Obama administration from moving forward with executive amnesty, calling it a win for the rule of law.

In a 2-1 split decision, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court’s injunction blocking the Obama administration from implementing programs to grant amnesty and work permits to millions of illegal immigrants.

“Today’s decision from the federal appeals court is a victory for the Constitution and the American people,” House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) says. “President Obama’s decision to ignore the limits placed on his power and act unilaterally to rewrite our nation’s immigration laws is an affront to the Constitution.”

The Fifth Circuit’s ruling upheld an injunction that has been in place since February, siding with the 26 states, led by Texas, challenging the administration’s unilateral actions.

Ted Cruz ✔ @tedcruz
A victory for rule of law as Fifth Circuit rules against Pres. Obama's illegal & unconstitutional executive amnesty!
http://www.breitbart.com/texas/2015/...utive-amnesty/ …
7:11 PM - 9 Nov 2015
Breitbart News
Appeals Court Stops Obama’s Executive Amnesty
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a ruling on Monday evening effectively putting a halt to President Barack Obama’s executive amnesty program. Texas and 26 other states joined in the lawsuit...
Photo published for Appeals Court Stops Obama’s Executive Amnesty View on web
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For months Republicans have chastised the Obama administration for overstepping its authority in unilaterally attempting to grant millions of illegal immigrants defacto legal status and work permits. “Thanks to the Fifth Circuit, the injunction on the President’s unlawful maneuvering to implement his own policies, without regard for Congress, the law or American workers remains in place,” Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley said Tuesday.

“The Obama administration does not have unfettered authority to execute whatever it wants. The President simply can’t singly rewrite the country’s immigration laws. This is a win for the checks and balances established by the Constitution,” he concluded.

Rep. Diane Black (R-TN) echoed the sentiment Tuesday, saying the president is not a king. “The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals has dealt an important victory for law abiding immigrants and taught President Obama a much-needed civics lesson. This President is many things, but a king isn’t one of them. We are a nation of laws and, as this rebuke from the court affirms, he cannot rewrite those laws on a whim to fit his liberal agenda,” Black said.

Even before the court decision, Republicans have touted the fact that Obama himself said he could not take the actions he ultimately took, as Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT)recalled Tuesday.

Senator Hatch Office ✔ @SenOrrinHatch
Obama said 22 times that he didnt have authority to grant #executiveamnesty. Courts must've heard him once or twice. http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/vi...rticle/2558638 …
6:43 AM - 10 Nov 2015
Washington Examiner
VIDEO: Boehner quotes all 22 times Obama said he couldn't use executive amnesty
During a floor debate Wednesday inside the House of Representatives, Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio., quoted all 22 times President Obama said he couldn't use executive action on immigra...
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Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-FL), a more moderate Republican, argued that Monday’s decision confirmed “that the Administration’s actions were driven by political calculation,” however, he noted that Congress still must find “bipartisan solutions” to the immigration issues facing the U.S.

Senator Dan Coats ✔ @SenDanCoats
The Fifth Circuit’s ruling reaffirms that President Obama’s role is to faithfully execute the law, not alter or ignore it as he sees fit
6:58 AM - 10 Nov 2015
2 2 Retweets likes

http://www.breitbart.com/big-governm...ntry-rule-law/

Excellent court ruling! .... It's a shame the court couldn't present its ruling to Obama/Soetoro in the form of a radically-administered giant sized suppository.

Some good news here. Let's hope that the Supreme Court either agrees with the 5th Circuit ruling or that they refuse to hear the Administration's appeal.

11/10/15

Obama to seek Supreme Court ruling on immigration actions

I jumped up and down for a very long time when I heard the news. The rule of law and American workers had a huge win against a evil traitor of the president who believes he is some kind of king. Thank you the courts saved us all from his lawlessness but let us remember this should have been congress not 26 states. I love Texas and those states though, thank you, thank you for standing up for us all. Of course there are huge costs to illegal aliens being in our nation just due to our welfare system and public school system, no brainier really...Congrats going out to all Americas, hurray !!!

I would like to know who the one judge is that went along with Obama's lawlessness. What kind of judge is this, get them out of office and soon.

This still has to go to the Supreme Court.

Obama to seek Supreme Court ruling on immigration actions


By making a swift decision to appeal, the administration increased the likelihood the Supreme Court will be able to take up the case during its current term, which ends next June.

Once the Justice Department files a petition for the high court to hear the case, Texas and 25 other states suing over the programs will have 30 days to file an opposition brief.

It's unclear whether the justices will decide to hear the case; they must vote by mid-January to ensure a decision is made in the current term.