In a 5-4 decision written by Chief Justice John Roberts, the Supreme Court ruled that Trump acted illegally when he tried to end DACA.
Chief Justice Roberts wrote for the majority, “The dispute before the Court is not whether DHS may rescind DACA. All parties agree that it may. The dispute is instead primarily about the procedure the agency followed in doing so.”
The process that was used was that then attorney general Jeff Sessions declared that the program was illegally started by the Obama administration, which is an old Republican talking point, so he simply shut it down.
The court’s ruling is that the program is legal, so an attorney general can’t rescind it.
NBC’s Pete Williams explains the case:
In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court rules that Trump can't shut down DACA by declaring it's start-up illegal. pic.twitter.com/84akA9UDsy
— Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) June 18, 2020
Trump could end DACA by signing an executive order, but he doesn’t want to do that, because he will own the responsibility for the political fall out.
The Trump administration used flawed and illegal reasoning to close down DACA. Trump is going to have to do his own dirty work if he wants to end DACA, so the bottom line is that the DREAMERS aren’t going anywhere.
Mr. Easley is the founder/managing editor and Senior White House and Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association