The Supreme Court said Tuesday that it would consider a legal challenge to President Obama’s overhaul of the nation’s immigration rules. The court, which has twice rejected challenges to Mr. Obama’s health care law, will now determine the fate of one of his most far-reaching executive actions.
….The administration, fearing that the program could remain frozen through the balance of Mr. Obama’s presidency, had asked the court to move quickly. On that point, at least, the court agreed, and it now appears that the case will be argued in April and decided by the end of June….The court did broaden the scope of the case, asking the parties to address an additional and fundamental question: whether the administration’s plan violates the constitutional command that the president “shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed.”
Well, that sure sounds like we can expect the usual partisan 5-4 decision. The liberals will vote with Obama and the conservatives will vote against him, and all the rest is window dressing. And just to twist the knife a bit more, the conservatives are going to use the opportunity to rail against Obama’s executive tyranny and issue some kind of broad ruling which eliminates enforcement discretion that every president in history has enjoyed until now.
Maybe. I’ve been wrong before about how the courts would react to Obama’s immigration order, so maybe I’m wrong again. And since I assume that much of the administration’s defense will rely not just on constitutional authority, but specifically on statutory interpretation of immigration law—which is fairly unique in the amount of power it gives to the executive—it’s hard to say for sure how exercised the conservative majority will actually be. In a few months we’ll find out.