Supreme Court Blocks Obama Illegal Immigration Executive Actions

The Supreme Court issued a ruling Thursday morning effectively blocking President Barack Obama‘s 2015 executive actions to unilaterally grant quasi-legal status to millions of illegal immigrants.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit ruled 2-1 in November that the president’s actions were an unconstitutional infringement on Congress’ powers to pass immigration law and blocked their implementation. The Supreme Court was split on the issue, 4-4, meaning the opinion of the lower court is upheld.

The actual ruling in United States v. Texas is per curium, meaning no one justice takes credit for writing it, and is only one sentence long: “The judgment is affirmed by an equally divided Court.”

The decision is a huge blow to President Obama’s immigration policy, but is eliciting celebration from his conservative critics. “This is another major victory in our fight to restore the separation of powers,” said Speaker of the House Paul Ryan in a statement.

[Image via screengrab]
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