06-24-2016, 11:08 AM
Immigration and Affirmative Action Rulings
Republicans continue to refuse considering Judge Garland to fill Scalia's seat, leaving the Supreme Court with only 8 Justices until after the election in November.
As a result, the court deadlocked with a 4 to 4 vote on a ruling related to President Obama's immigration Executive Order yesterday, leaving millions of American immigrants in limbo for now.
“It’s heartbreaking for the millions of immigrants who’ve made their lives here, who’ve raised families here,” Obama said in a press conference Thursday about the court’s ruling. Dreamers — undocumented young people who came to the U.S. as children — are “Americans in every way except on paper,” he said.
“This is part of the consequence of the Republican failure so far to give a fair hearing to Mr. Merrick Garland, my nominee to the Supreme Court,” Obama said. That the justices couldn’t reach a decision is “a very clear reminder of why it’s so important for the Supreme Court to have a full bench.”
Obama also jabbed at presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, calling it “factually incorrect” to say the U.S. can deport 11 million undocumented immigrants or build a wall along the southern border without spending tens of millions of dollars of taxpayer money. “It’s a fantasy,” Obama said. “That demeans our tradition of being both a nation of laws and a nation of immigrants,” he added.
The Court did rule in favor of allowing universities to maintain Affirmative Action policies in order to promote diversity yesterday. Justice Kennedy's ruling in favor of Affirmative Action was a surprise to many. The Court vote was 4 to 3 (Justice Sottomayer removed herself from the vote in this case when it was filed years back to avoid conflict of interest; she had worked on Affirmative Action policy previously).
Refs:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/obam...1e?section=
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/...story.html
Republicans continue to refuse considering Judge Garland to fill Scalia's seat, leaving the Supreme Court with only 8 Justices until after the election in November.
As a result, the court deadlocked with a 4 to 4 vote on a ruling related to President Obama's immigration Executive Order yesterday, leaving millions of American immigrants in limbo for now.
“It’s heartbreaking for the millions of immigrants who’ve made their lives here, who’ve raised families here,” Obama said in a press conference Thursday about the court’s ruling. Dreamers — undocumented young people who came to the U.S. as children — are “Americans in every way except on paper,” he said.
“This is part of the consequence of the Republican failure so far to give a fair hearing to Mr. Merrick Garland, my nominee to the Supreme Court,” Obama said. That the justices couldn’t reach a decision is “a very clear reminder of why it’s so important for the Supreme Court to have a full bench.”
Obama also jabbed at presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, calling it “factually incorrect” to say the U.S. can deport 11 million undocumented immigrants or build a wall along the southern border without spending tens of millions of dollars of taxpayer money. “It’s a fantasy,” Obama said. “That demeans our tradition of being both a nation of laws and a nation of immigrants,” he added.
The Court did rule in favor of allowing universities to maintain Affirmative Action policies in order to promote diversity yesterday. Justice Kennedy's ruling in favor of Affirmative Action was a surprise to many. The Court vote was 4 to 3 (Justice Sottomayer removed herself from the vote in this case when it was filed years back to avoid conflict of interest; she had worked on Affirmative Action policy previously).
Refs:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/obam...1e?section=
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/...story.html