Dean Johnson Interviewed on Supreme Court Immigration Case by Capital Public Radio

Dean Kevin R. Johnson guested on Capital Public Radio's Insight program on May 4, commenting at length on U.S. v. Texas, the Supreme Court case in which Texas and other states are challenging President Obama's Deferred Action for Parents of Americans (DAPA) program.

In the interview, Dean Johnson described DAPA as "a decision of the Obama administration to give some kind of very limited relief, to give very limited and temporary status, to people who are law abiding, who are undocumented and have family members in the United States.  It's designed to protect and unify families, keep them together as opposed to splitting them up.  It's very important to remember this is not an amnesty.  It's not a path to permanent citizenship. It is a very limited relief from deportation, which law professors call prosecutorial discretion."

Dean Johnson also talked about the potential outcomes of the Supreme Court case.  One possibility is that the Justices could find that Texas and other states do not have standing in the case and invalidate a lower court's injunction blocking the implementation of DAPA.  Another is that the Court, left with only eight Justices following the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, could deadlock 4-4, leaving the injunction in place.

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.