The U.S. Supreme Court has ordered pandemic-era restrictions at the border to remain in place.
According to Bloomberg Law, the U.S. Supreme Court voted 5-4 to block a lower court decision that would have invalidated the Title 42 rule, which allows the U.S. to export migrants, including those who might be eligible for asylum.
Supreme Court justices said they will hear arguments in late February or early March on the states’ right to intervene in the policy. President Joe Biden’s administration had asked the justices to let the policy expire.
Justice Neil Gorsuch was one of the four to dissent.
“The current border crisis is not a COVID crisis,” wrote Gorsuch in an opinion with Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. “And courts should not be in the business of perpetuating administrative edicts designed for one emergency only because elected officials have failed to address a different emergency. We are a court of law, not policymakers of last resort.”
Said White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre: “Title 42 is a public health measure, not an immigration enforcement measure, and it should not be extended indefinitely. We need Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform measures like the ones President Biden proposed on his first day in office.”
The court has said it will not directly consider the lawfulness of Title 42 and only consider the possibility of intervention by states.
Nineteen Republican attorneys general seeking Supreme Court intervention, said a federal district judge’s order invalidating the policy would have created a “crisis of unprecedented proportions.”
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton called the recent Supreme Court decision a “huge victory” on Twitter.
Meanwhile, the American Civil Liberties Union said it would fight the policy and represent immigrant families.
“We continue to challenge this horrific policy that has caused so much harm to asylum seekers and cannot plausibly be justified any longer as a public health measure,” said American Civil Liberties Union attorney Lee Gelerent in a statement.
Photo courtesy: ©Getty Images/Mario Tama/Staff
Amanda Casanova is a writer living in Dallas, Texas. She has covered news for ChristianHeadlines.com since 2014. She has also contributed to The Houston Chronicle, U.S. News and World Report and IBelieve.com. She blogs at The Migraine Runner.
