Justice Department will ask Supreme Court for direct review of judge's DACA injunction
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The U.S. Justice Department announced that it intends to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to grant direct review on the merits of a judge’s injunction that bars the Trump administration from phasing out a program protecting immigrants brought to the country illegally as minors.
The department said in a press release that it intends to take the “rare step” of seeking Supreme Court review even as it filed a notice of appeal in the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday, report the Washington Post, Politico, BuzzFeed News and the Recorder.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in the release that “it defies both law and common sense” for the immigration policy “to somehow be mandated nationwide by a single district court in San Francisco.”
U.S. District Judge William Alsup’s Jan. 9 nationwide injunction applies during litigation challenging the decision to wind down the 2012 program known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA.
Trump criticized Alsup’s decision on Twitter after the ruling. “It just shows everyone how broken and unfair our court system is when the opposing side in a case (such as DACA) always runs to the 9th Circuit and almost always wins before being reversed by higher courts.”
The New York Times spoke with experts who said the Supreme Court might address nationwide injunctions this year. “The justices don’t like the districts courts changing national policy overnight,” said Josh Blackman, a professor at South Texas College of Law.
Experts who oppose such injunctions say judges are imposing them in cases involving regional issues, giving ammunition to critics who say the judiciary is overreaching.
