On January 19, 2016, the United States Supreme Court announced it would hear arguments in the case of Texas v. the United States. The justice granted a request from the Obama administration to review the Fifth Circuit decision upholding Judge Andrew Hanen’s injunction blocking implementation of DAPA and expanded DACA.
On April 18, 2016, the Court will hear arguments in the case from both sides. Representing the United States is Solicitor General Donald Verrilli. Representing the 26 GOP Governors and Attorneys General is the Solicitor General of Texas, Scott Keller.
At the argument, each team of lawyers will have approximately 30 minutes to make their cases. Justices will ask questions, challenging their arguments, which have been laid out in briefs. The brief for the United States was filed on March 1, 2016. An analysis by David Leopold of key points made by the Obama administration can be found here. The Texas brief was filed on March 28, 2016 with an analysis from Leopold here.
Shortly after the arguments, the Justices of the Supreme Court will meet to discuss their positions. There are several key questions starting with whether the GOP Governors and Attorneys General have standing to sue the Obama administration. If there is no standing, the Court will not even consider the underlying issues. IF there is standing, the other issues will be resolved. At this conference, assignments will be made for writing the majority opinion and the dissent.
We do not expect the Supreme Court to issue a decision until some time in late June – and we won’t know what date except that the Court will rule before the Supreme Court’s term recesses.
As the end of June approaches, whenever the Court is in session, we’ll be closely watching for news at 10:00 AM when the Court convenes. Reporters will be awaiting the release of decisions. On “decision days,” SCOTUSblog holds a liveblog where often thousands of people congregate to await news. We won’t know when the ruling will come until that moment the Court issues the ruling.
Along the way, we’ll be publishing a lot of commentary about the case and the key players. Follow our Supreme Court coverage here.
