OPINION:
The Department of Justice is petitioning the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a federal judge’s ruling on Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, a rare intervention that could finally hand the White House a win on the Barack Obama-implemented program.
Good. Attorney General Jeff Sessions is right to wage a fight on this, despite the fact an appeal of the San Francisco order to let DACA continue is in the works.
The idea that a former president’s executively issued command that wrongfully skirted Congress is now hard and fast U.S. law is a bit much to stomach. If that’s how it’s going to be in America, might as well save some significant tax dollars and get rid of the whole legislative branch.
It’s lawmakers, not the president, who are supposed to have the power to — well, make laws.
“We are now taking the rare step of requesting direct review on the merits of this injunction by the Supreme Court so that this issue may be resolved quickly and fairly for all the parties involved,” Sessions said in a statement.
The significance of Justice’s involvement is that the case could be heard quicker.
“[T]he case, brought by the University of California system and its president, Janet Napolitano, herself the former secretary of homeland security, could be heard by the Supreme Court even before it winds its way through the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals,” The New York Times reported.
And with DACA, timing is of the essence.
Not only is March 5 the deadline for some current DACA holders to come up on a deadline for their renewals, but fact is, the longer the case is in-waiting, the more credence, the more power is handed to the ruling of a single judge in San Francisco. How can one local judge make a ruling that applies to the entirety of America — and on an issue of such national importance, to boot?
The White House is abiding by the federal judge’s ruling; a spokesperson for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said in the Los Angeles Times that “until further notice,” DACA “will be operated on the terms in place before it was rescinded” by President Donald Trump’s administration.
So let’s hope the Supreme Court weighs in — and soon.
It’s not right that an entire nation, not to mention 700,000 or so DACA recipients, should have to sit on pins and needles on the decision of one judge in one city in one state of America. If anything deserves a speedy high court hearing, it’s DACA. And seriously, if anything deserves a high court slap-down, it’s this improperly implemented, executively created amnesty plan for illegals, and ultimately, their chains of family members.
Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley.
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