The Supreme Court listens to arguments in U.S. v. Texas

On April 15, 2016, the United States Supreme Court listened to oral arguments for the case U.S. v. Texas, which is the case dealing with whether are not the proposed deferred action for parents program and the expanded deferred action for children program will be implemented. The state of Texas is leading the lawsuit by taking the position that they are not required to implement the new programs because they violate Federal law.

The oral argument process is simply the chance for attorneys on both sides to make their arguments in person to the Supreme Court Justices. Equally important, it gives the Justices a chance to ask both sides questions about the case. For a great discussion and summary of oral arguments, click here. Supreme Court Blog

When the Supreme Court will actually issue a final decision is hard to predict. The death of Justice Scalia has complicated the potential outcomes of the case. The Supreme Court only has 8 members right now, rather than a full 9, which increases the risk of a tie decision. Unfortunately, a tie decision would result in the lower court’s decision being upheld, which ruled that the programs violated federal law. However, the issue could be raised again when the Court has a full 9 members.

If you have questions about this very important decision, feel free to give us a call and we are happy to chat about it for a second.

The Shaftel Law Team.