President Barack Obama was dealt a severe legal setback when a federal appeals court shot down his executive action granting amnesty to millions of illegal aliens.
The 2-1 decision by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans further dims the prospect of implementation of the executive action before Obama leaves office in 2017. Appeals over the injunction could take months. Depending on how the case unfolds, the injunction could even go back to the Texas federal court for more proceedings.
26 states joined in a legal challenge to the the President’s executive action. A federal judge in Texas placed a preliminary injunction against the edicts in February.
Obama’s lawyers appealed and lost an initial ruling.
The 70-page majority opinion by Judge Jerry Smith, joined by Jennifer Walker Elrod, rejected administration arguments that the district judge abused his discretion with a nationwide order and that the states lacked standing to challenge Obama’s executive orders.
They acknowledged an argument that an adverse ruling would discourage potential beneficiaries of the plan from cooperating with law enforcement authorities or paying taxes. “But those are burdens that Congress knowingly created, and it is not our place to second-guess those decisions,” Smith wrote.
Texas was a lead plaintiff in the case.
“President Obama should abandon his lawless executive amnesty program and start enforcing the law today,” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said in a news release.
