The United States Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit ruled yesterday that president Obama's executive action on immigration was illegal and continued the injunction against that program proceeding. The ruling by the thee judge panel was 2 to 1. The court held that Obama did not have the power to change the immigration law and that the procedure used to make the change was also fatally flawed.
This result was certainly no surprise. Only the most strident Democrat partisans have argued that the president has the power to make sweeping changes in law like Obama tried with his executive action. Congress has to pass such a change in the law. Nevertheless, it will be interesting to see if Obama goes ahead an appeals to the Supreme Court. If he does, it is a risky course. If the Court rules against him, his program will be dead and he will look like a failure in the middle of the next presidential campaign. If Obama wins in the Supreme Court, the next president could easily undo the entire program with the same stroke of the pen that Obama used to create it. Obama may just decide that he is better disagreeing with the latest decision but not pushing forward to the Supreme Court.
This result was certainly no surprise. Only the most strident Democrat partisans have argued that the president has the power to make sweeping changes in law like Obama tried with his executive action. Congress has to pass such a change in the law. Nevertheless, it will be interesting to see if Obama goes ahead an appeals to the Supreme Court. If he does, it is a risky course. If the Court rules against him, his program will be dead and he will look like a failure in the middle of the next presidential campaign. If Obama wins in the Supreme Court, the next president could easily undo the entire program with the same stroke of the pen that Obama used to create it. Obama may just decide that he is better disagreeing with the latest decision but not pushing forward to the Supreme Court.
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