Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton cheer Obama appeal of immigration case

Hoping to cash in on Hispanic voters’ support, Democratic presidential candidates pushed President Obama Tuesday to speed an appeal of this week’s decision blocking his deportation amnesty, saying they’re confident he’ll prevail at the Supreme Court.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday that Mr. Obama broke federal immigration laws when he tried to grant work permits and a three-year proactive stay of deportation to as many as 5 million illegal immigrants.

The long-awaited ruling is a major setback to the president, who’d said he was forced to step in and act because Congress would not. The 2-1 ruling said, however, that Congress has the power to write immigration laws, and congressional inaction is not an excuse for Mr. Obama to try to write law himself.

The administration signaled Tuesday it will appeal, and if it moves quickly, the case could reach the Supreme Court by the end of the term, next June.

Meanwhile former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Sen. Bernard Sanders, two of the candidates for Democrats’ presidential nomination, insisted the appeals court got the ruling wrong and predicted the Supreme Court would change it.

“President Obama believes that the parents of children who are citizens or legal permanent residents should be able to stay with their children, not be forced out of the country. I look forward to the Supreme Court acknowledging the president’s position,” Mr. Sanders said in a statement.

Mrs. Clinton, meanwhile, insisted the legal backing for Mr. Obama’s moves “is well established.”

Republican presidential candidates — including those who agreed with Mr. Obama’s goals — have blasted him for taking a go-it-alone stance on the issue, saying he needed to work with Congress to win a compromise instead.

The issue is already playing out on the campaign trail, where Hispanic activists have said voters should punish Republicans for backing the lawsuit that challenged the amnesty.