Court won't let Biden implement immigration policy
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court won't allow the Biden administration to implement a policy that prioritizes deportation of people in the country illegally who pose the greatest public safety risk.
The court's order last Thursday leaves the policy frozen nationwide for now. The vote was 5-4 with conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett joining liberal Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson in saying they would have allowed the Biden administration to put in place the guidance.
The court also announced it would hear arguments in the case, saying they would be in late November.
The order is the first public vote by Jackson since she joined the court June 30 following the retirement of Justice Stephen Breyer.
The justices were acting on the administration's emergency request to the court following conflicting decisions by federal appeals courts over a September directive from the Homeland Security Department that paused deportation unless individuals had committed acts of terrorism, espionage or "egregious threats to public safety."
The federal appeals court in Cincinnati earlier this month overturned a district judge's order that put the policy on hold in a lawsuit filed by Arizona, Ohio and Montana.
But in a separate suit filed by Texas and Louisiana, a federal judge in Texas ordered a nationwide halt to the guidance and a federal appellate panel in New Orleans declined to step in.
The judge's order amounted to a "nationwide, judicially imposed overhaul of the Executive Branch's enforcement priorities," Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar wrote in a court filing. Prelogar is the administration's top Supreme Court lawyer.
In their Supreme Court filing, Texas and Louisiana argued that the administration's guidance violates federal law that requires the detention of people who are in the U.S. illegally and who have been convicted of serious crimes. The states said they would face added costs of having to detain people the federal government might allow to remain free inside the United States, despite their criminal records.
The guidance, issued after Joe Biden became president, updated a Trump-era policy that removed people in the country illegally regardless of criminal history or community ties.
In a statement last Friday, the Department of Homeland Security said that while it awaits a final ruling by the Supreme Court, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers "will make enforcement decisions on a case-by-case basis in a professional and responsible manner, informed by their experience as law enforcement officials and in a way that best protects against the greatest threats to the homeland."
Court move allows Jackson to take part in race case
By Mark Sherman
Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court last Friday took a step that will allow new Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman on the court, to take part in a case that could lead to the end of the use of race in college admissions.
Jackson, who joined the court June 30 following the retirement of Justice Stephen Breyer, had pledged during her confirmation hearing to sit out the case involving Harvard's admissions policy because she was a member of the school's board.
The Harvard dispute had been joined to a similar lawsuit involving the University of North Carolina. The court split the case in two, allowing Jackson to hear arguments and vote in the North Carolina case. Harvard is a private institution, while North Carolina is a public university.
Jackson's participation seems unlikely to make much difference in the outcome on a court with a 6-3 conservative majority that is skeptical of the role of race in education, voting and other areas.
Arguments over one of the new term's most highly anticipated issues probably will take place in November or December, but no date has been announced yet.
Jackson was a member of Harvard's Board of Overseers from 2016 until the spring. It is made up of alumni and is one of Harvard's two governing bodies. She is a graduate both of Harvard College and Harvard Law School.
Three other justices also got their law degrees from Harvard: Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Elena Kagan and Neil Gorsuch. Roberts also was a Harvard undergraduate and Kagan was the law school dean for a time.
But none of the other justices has any current or recent role with the university.
Federal law requires all judges to recuse from cases in which their "impartiality might reasonably be questioned," including close ties to a party, a financial interest in the outcome or participation at an earlier stage of the case.
The court has taken similar steps before. In 2020, Justice Sonia Sotomayor discovered a conflict in a dispute from two states over presidential electors. The court abandoned plans to hear them together and eventually issued its major decision in the case in which all the justices participated.
