Finally, the beginning of some sanity.
It is scary having to rely on the courts after establishment Republicans just screwed the voters.
BREAKING: Federal judge finds Obama amnesty is unconstitutional
Ruling doesn’t immediately overturn policy
President Barack Obama speaks to troops at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J., Monday, Dec. 15, 2014. President Barack Obama says every American who has served in Afghanistan should be proud of what they’ve accomplished. Obama is observing the end of combat ... more >
By Stephen Dinan - The Washington Times - Updated: 2:31 p.m. on Tuesday, December 16, 2014
A federal judge has found parts of President Obama’s new deportation amnesty to be unconstitutional, issuing a scathing memo Tuesday accusing him of usurping Congress’s power to make laws, and dismantling most of the White House’s legal reasoning for circumventing Congress.
Judge Arthur J. Schwab, sitting in the western district of Pennsylvania, said presidents do have powers to use discretion in deciding how to enforce the law, but said Mr. Obama’s new policy goes well beyond that, setting up a full system for granting legal protections to broad groups of individuals. He said Mr. Obama writing laws — a power that’s reserved for Congress, not the president.
SEE ALSO: Amnesty fight: Obama admin tells courts they’re powerless to stop executive order
“President Obama’s unilateral legislative action violates the separation of powers provided for in the United States Constitution as well as the Take Care Clause, and therefore is unconstitutional,” Judge Schwab wrote.
The judge also said the policy allows illegal immigrants “to obtain substantive rights.”
The memo came as part of a deportation case before the judge, and Judge Schwab’s order does not invalidate the president’s policies. But it serves as a warning shot as other direct challenges to the new amnesty begin to make their way through the courts.
SEE ALSO: Obama amnesty in jeopardy with Bush judicial appointee hearing states’ challenge
A federal judge in Washington, D.C., will hear one of those challenges in oral arguments next week, and a similar case is proceeding in Texas.
Mr. Obama’s new policy, announced Nov. 20, would allow up to 5 million illegal immigrants to apply for “deferred action,” which is a proactive notice that they won’t be deported, and a grant of a work permit to allow them to legally compete for jobs.
To qualify, illegal immigrants would need to show they were brought to the U.S. as children, or to show that they have children who are either U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents of the country.
The White House defends the policy as a reasonable use of Mr. Obama’s powers to set priorities for enforcing laws, and to stop the break-up of families due to deportation.
In the Washington case, the Obama administration filed a brief late Monday arguing that immigration authorities can only deport fewer than 400,000 immigrants a year, out of a population of more than 11 million. They said makes sense for Mr. Obama to carve out millions of those who he won’t bother to go after, so immigration agents can focus on the rest.
The administration lawyers also said the policy doesn’t grant illegal immigrants any rights, and said they could still be deported “at any time.”
But Judge Schwab went point-by-point in refuting those arguments, saying that since Mr. Obama couched his policy as a moral imperative to keep families together, it is not so easy to undo his policy.
And the judge repeatedly used Mr. Obama’s own words against him, listing some of the times the president had previously said he didn’t have the power to take the exact actions he has now taken.
The case before Judge Schwab involved an illegal immigrant, Elionardo Juarez-Escobar, who was deported in 2005 but snuck back into the U.S., ending up in Pittsburgh, where his brother, a U.S. citizen, owned a landscaping company.
Story Continues →
Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news...obama-amnesty-unconstitutional/#ixzz3M5pGMReN
Follow us: @washtimes on Twitter
It is scary having to rely on the courts after establishment Republicans just screwed the voters.
BREAKING: Federal judge finds Obama amnesty is unconstitutional
Ruling doesn’t immediately overturn policy
President Barack Obama speaks to troops at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J., Monday, Dec. 15, 2014. President Barack Obama says every American who has served in Afghanistan should be proud of what they’ve accomplished. Obama is observing the end of combat ... more >
By Stephen Dinan - The Washington Times - Updated: 2:31 p.m. on Tuesday, December 16, 2014
A federal judge has found parts of President Obama’s new deportation amnesty to be unconstitutional, issuing a scathing memo Tuesday accusing him of usurping Congress’s power
to make laws, and dismantling most of the White House’s legal reasoning for circumventing Congress.Judge Arthur J. Schwab, sitting in the western district of Pennsylvania, said presidents do have powers to use discretion in deciding how to enforce the law, but said Mr. Obama’s new policy goes well beyond that, setting up a full system for granting legal protections
to broad groups of individuals. He said Mr. Obama writing laws — a power that’s reserved for Congress, not the president.SEE ALSO: Amnesty fight: Obama admin tells courts they’re powerless to stop executive order
“President Obama’s unilateral legislative action violates the separation of powers provided for in the United States Constitution as well as the Take Care Clause, and therefore is unconstitutional,” Judge Schwab wrote.
The judge also said the policy allows illegal immigrants “to obtain substantive rights.”
The memo came as part of a deportation case before the judge, and Judge Schwab’s order
does not invalidate the president’s policies. But it serves as a warning shot as other direct challenges to the new amnesty begin to make their way through the courts.SEE ALSO: Obama amnesty in jeopardy with Bush judicial appointee hearing states’ challenge
A federal judge in Washington, D.C., will hear
one of those challenges in oral arguments next week, and a similar case is proceeding in Texas.Mr. Obama’s new policy, announced Nov. 20, would allow up to 5 million illegal immigrants to apply for “deferred action,” which is a proactive notice that they won’t be deported, and a grant of a work permit to allow them to legally compete for jobs.
To qualify, illegal immigrants would need to show they were brought to the U.S. as children, or to show that they have children who are either U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents of the country.
The White House defends the policy as a reasonable use of Mr. Obama’s powers to set priorities for enforcing laws, and to stop the break-up of families due to deportation.
In the Washington case, the Obama administration filed a brief late Monday arguing that immigration authorities can only deport fewer than 400,000 immigrants a year, out of a population of more than 11 million. They said makes sense for Mr. Obama to carve out millions of those who he won’t bother to go after, so immigration agents can focus on the rest.
The administration lawyers also said the policy doesn’t grant illegal immigrants any rights, and said they could still be deported “at any time.”
But Judge Schwab went point-by-point in refuting those arguments, saying that since Mr. Obama couched his policy as a moral imperative to keep families together, it is not so easy to undo his policy.
And the judge repeatedly used Mr. Obama’s own words against him, listing some of the times the president had previously said he didn’t have the power to take the exact actions he has now taken.
The case before Judge Schwab involved an illegal immigrant, Elionardo Juarez-Escobar, who was deported in 2005 but snuck back into the U.S., ending up in Pittsburgh, where his brother, a U.S. citizen, owned a landscaping company.
Story Continues →
Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news...obama-amnesty-unconstitutional/#ixzz3M5pGMReN
Follow us: @washtimes on Twitter
