Let's talk about what happened with DACA with another near-universally beloved woman as our guide.
Chief Justice Roberts + Justices Breyer, Kagan, Ginsburg, and Sotomayor tell us that certainly the Dept of Homeland Security can terminate DACA, but it has to do so competently, and here it did not.
The AG and DHS say DACA is illegal because the 5th Cir. Court of Appeals decided that DAPA (the program the Obama admin rolled out for parents) was illegal. But it decided only that benefits were illegal and didn't talk about deportation. Read more carefully, gov't.
That's a big deal. Choosing not to deport is the heart of the program ("deferred action" is right there in the name), and the government never considered it - at all.
The government also didn't consider that people have relied on DACA to the tune of billions of dollars in economic impact, marriages, having children, buying houses, enrolling in schools. How did they not consider and at least mention this in making the decision?
So, the decision was arbitrary and capricious and cannot stand. The government can try again, but they got it way, way wrong this time.
Roberts also says there is no claim here under the Equal Protection Clause (Sotomayor disagrees) because he's not going to focus on racist comments from Trump - just what the AG and DHS Secretary have said and done. All told, the decision to terminate DACA is vacated.
I covered the majority opinion on Patreon today and will do all of the concurrences and dissents tomorrow. Have a great evening.
