On Tuesday, December 1, the U.S. Supreme Court handed the Obama administration a “small procedural victory” and refused the request of Texas and other states for a 30-day extension to file briefs in support of the lawsuit blocking the Obama administration’s immigration executive action on DACA and DAPA. Instead, the Court accepted the Justice Department’s eight day extension request. The Supreme Court will likely decide in January whether or not to hear the case this term. If the Supreme Court hears the case during the current term, the decision would likely be published in June, providing quite the fan-flaming event during the 2016 presidential election.
The lawsuit itself is related to President Obama’s executive action expanding the Deferred Action for Children and creating Deferred Action for Parents (of U.S. Citizen or permanent resident children).
On Monday, over 220 organizations filed in favor of lifting the injunction on the executive action. These groups focused on the tangible benefits of expanding DACA and implementing DAPA and left the legal arguments to the Department of Justice.