Dean Johnson Comments on Supreme Court Ruling for Christian Science Monitor, Newsweek, KPFA

Dean Kevin R. Johnson commented for media including the Christian Science Monitor, Newsweek, and Bay Area public radio station KPFA on the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in United States v. Texas, a case concerning the constitutionality of the Obama administration's Deferred Action for Parents of Americans (DAPA) program. 

The Court, still short-handed in the wake of the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, split 4-4 in the case, leaving in place a lower court's injunction blocking implementation of DAPA.  The program would have deferred deportation actions against certain undocumented immigrants who are parents of American citizens or legal permanent residents.

In an interview on the KPFA program Letters and Politics, Dean Johnson explained the background of the DAPA program and the court actions.  The Supreme Court's deadlock means the case will be remanded to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which will likely remand it to district court, he said.

"It should not be suggested that the Supreme Court decided anything," Dean Johnson said. "This has very limited precedential value."

Dean Johnson told the Christian Science Monitor that the ruling "might pave the way for perpetual immigration gridlock," giving states the power "to derail discretionary federal immigration enforcement decisions."  It could also "open the door to the use of litigation in the federal courts for partisan political ends in many controversial areas of law enforcement," he said. The Christian Science Monitor article quoted from an essay on U.S. v. Texas that Dean Johnson published on SCOTUSblog, where he regularly contributes entries on Supreme Court immigration cases.  Professor Gabriel "Jack" Chin also contributed a commentary on U.S. v. Texas to SCOTUSblog.

The Obama administration is likely to continue to pursue the case in the Fifth Circuit and in district court, but whether or not it returns to the Supreme Court "will depend on who the president is," Dean Johnson commented for an article on the Supreme Court ruling and the upcoming election published in the June 23 issue of Newsweek.

Kevin R. Johnson is Dean and Mabie-Apallas Professor of Public Interest Law and Chicana/o studies at UC Davis School of Law. He is an internationally recognized scholar in the fields of immigration law and policy, refugee law, and civil rights.