WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court justices sounded closely split Tuesday during arguments over whether President Trump properly revoked the Obama-era policy that has allowed 700,000 young immigrants to live and work in the United States.
Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., whose vote is likely to be the deciding one, asked tough questions of both sides and did not tip his hand.
Trump’s Solicitor Gen. Noel Francisco urged the justices to toss out rulings from three federal judges and to clear the way for the president to “wind down” the program known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals or DACA.
Francisco called DACA “a temporary stop-gap measure” that could be repealed at any time. The administration has also argued that the original program was illegal because it exceeded the powers of the president.
At several points, Roberts suggested that the Trump administration may have been on firm ground in thinking DACA was illegal. He noted that a similar, more far-reaching Obama immigration order -- protecting immigrants who are parents of some U.S. citizens or lawful residents -- had been blocked by the 5th Circuit and the Supreme Court in a tie vote. “Isn’t that enough?” Roberts asked.
Arguing in defense of the Dreamers and their right to work legally was Ted Olson, who served as U.S. solicitor general under President George W. Bush. Olson argued that rescinding DACA would “trigger disruption” to the lives of hundreds of thousands of people, their families, businesses and the armed forces.
Both Olson and California Solicitor General Michael Mongan argued that DACA was legal, and the Trump administration could not shut it down solely on the basis that it was illegal.
More than a quarter of those protected under the DACA program live in California, and many of them are raising families. But they could be left without a work permit next year if the high court rules for Trump.
The case poses an unusual test of presidential power. Trump’s lawyers argued he should prevail because Obama abused his executive authority by granting a temporary exemption from deportation for immigrants who were brought to this country as children.
For more than two years, Trump has been seeking to end the special protections for the Dreamers put in place by Obama, but he has been blocked by federal judges in San Francisco, New York and Washington D.C. All three said the proposed repeal was flawed because it relied on the false claim that Obama’s policy was illegal from the start.
Obama announced the special protection for the Dreamers in 2012, and the policy has gained steadily in popularity. Opinion polls in the past year have found that more than three-fourths of those surveyed—both Republicans and Democrats—support granting legal status to the Dreamers.
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