After Immigration Deadlock, Obama Slams Republican Refusal to Confirm SCOTUS Nominee

The Supreme Court’s 4-4 tie leaves the president’s immigration plan blocked.


President Barack Obama sharply criticized Republicans in Congress on Thursday for “willfully” preventing the Supreme Court from functioning properly, effectively placing the blame for the deadlock in a high-stakes immigration case, United States v. Texas, on their refusal to confirm his Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland.

“Today, the Supreme Court was unable to reach a decision,” Obama said in a press conference from the White House. “This is a part of the consequence of the Republican failure so far to give  a fair hearing to Mr. Merrick Garland.”

“Today’s situation underscores the degree to which the court is not able to function the way it’s supposed to,” he continued. “The court’s inability to reach a decision in this case is a very clear reminder of why it’s so important for the Supreme Court  to have a full bench.”

Shortly before the president’s remarks, the Supreme Court announced that it could not reach a decision in the case, which challenged the president’s executive action to protect nearly 4 million undocumented immigrants from the threat of deportation and allow them to legally obtain work in the United States. The tie upholds a lower court’s ruling that prevent Obama’s plan from taking effect.

“Today’s decision is frustrating to those who seek to grow our economy and bring a rationality to our immigration system and to allow people to come out of the shadows who are left with a perpetual shadows on them.”

Obama said that the tie took “us further from the country we aspire to be.” He also pointed to the upcoming general election as a choice Americans can make on delivering progress to a broken immigration system.

WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

payment methods

WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate