Today, to mark the three year anniversary of the infamous RNC autopsy report, House Republicans are holding yet another anti-immigrant vote. This is the eighth by our count.
But, this vote sends a message to the Supreme Court: United States v. Texas, the lawsuit brought by 26 GOP Governors and Attorneys General, is, in reality, nothing but a political exercise.
Today’s vote is designed to give Speaker Paul Ryan cover to sign an amicus brief in the GOP case on behalf of the entire U.S. House of Representatives. As Ryan himself noted, this is a “very extraordinary step.” It is indeed. Ryan could file an amicus on behalf of his GOP colleagues without holding a show-vote on the House floor. But, that might not satisfy the GOP base, which has been fed an ugly anti-immigrant diet by the party’s frontrunner, Donald Trump.
Said Lynn Tramonte, Deputy Director of America’s Voice: “Speaker Paul Ryan concocted this scheme to hold a vote and give his caucus another opportunity to burnish their anti-immigrant credentials, providing that they truly are the Party of Trump. With this, the anti-immigrant groups get to score another vote ahead of the 2016 elections. Ryan’s GOP colleagues get another talking point on the campaign trail. And immigrants get another reminder of how much they are hated by the modern-day GOP.
“But, that’s not supposed to be what Supreme Court cases are about. This exercise sends a clear message to Chief Justice John Roberts and his colleagues: The Texas case is all about politics. GOP politics. Trump Party politics. As legal scholars have noted, political questions like this should be fought in the legislature, not before the Supreme Court.
“If Roberts follow his own jurisprudence, the Texas case will be dismissed on standing grounds. If he needs any further proof that it’s a political question, he need only look at what the U.S. House is doing today.”
