Tied court blocks Obama immigration plan

WASHINGTON An ideologically deadlocked Supreme Court dealt a severe blow Thursday to President Barack Obama's immigration reform plan, underscoring the battle over a ninth justice and casting the November election as a referendum on how to deal with the more than 11 million people living in the country illegally.

The 4-4 vote leaves in place a Texas federal judge's order that has prevented Obama from granting deportation relief and work permits to more than 4 million immigrants who are parents of citizens or legal residents.

The tie means it will be left to the next president, the next Congress and possibly a nine-member Supreme Court to address what is widely seen as a broken immigration system.

The ruling does not mean the government will begin deporting people who might have been eligible for Obama's program. Speaking after the ruling, Obama emphasized that parents of citizens 'will remain low priorities for enforcement. As long as you have not committed a crime, our limited immigration enforcement resources are not focused on you.”

The immediate practical impact, however, will be that those several million people will still be unable to work legally in the country.

The stalemate demonstrated again how the eight-member Supreme Court left equally divided since the February death of Justice Antonin Scalia has been unable to issue definitive rulings in the most contested cases.

The split was almost certainly along familiar ideological lines, though the justices' votes were not revealed.

The implications of a deadlocked court reverberated again in the race for the Senate seat held by Iowa's Chuck Grassley. He and other GOP leaders have refused to hold confirmation hearings for anyone Obama nominated to replace Scalia.

'Today's split decision by the Supreme Court is another reminder of how critical it is that Chuck Grassley do his job and begin the process of filling the vacancy on the court,” said a statement from his rival, Democrat Patty Judge. a former Iowa agriculture secretary and lieutenant governor. ' ... Unfortunately, Chuck Grassley's obstruction has resulted in an uncertain future for these programs and has left millions of people in legal limbo.”

Grassley, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, avoided addressing the split court in his comments - focusing instead on Obama without naming him.

The ruling 'underscores the rule of law and the system of government set up by the Founding Fathers,” Grassley said in a statement. 'I agree that our immigration system must be revamped, but circumventing Congress and attempting to rewrite the immigration laws simply because you don't get your way is unlawful and contrary to the checks and balances so carefully crafted in the Constitution.”

Obama has nominated federal judge Merrick Garland to fill the vacancy, but very few Republican senators say a vote should be held.

In announcing his Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents in 2014, Obama said deportations should focus on criminals, gang members and people who repeatedly cross the border, but not on immigrant parents of U.S. citizens.

Obama proposed to allow people who fit this category to come forward, undergo a background check and get a work permit if they qualified.

It was similar to a previous program that benefited immigrants who were brought to the country illegally as children, dubbed 'Dreamers.” That program, known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, is unaffected.

Texas state lawyers said Obama's second immigration plan went too far. They sued in a federal court there. A judge issued a national order preventing Obama's plan from going into effect and the 5th Circuit Court in New Orleans upheld it.

At the White House, Obama mourned his defeat.

'Here's the bottom line: We've got a very real choice that America faces right now,” he said. 'We're going to have to make a decision about whether we are a people who tolerate hypocrisy of a system where the workers who pick our fruit and make our beds never have a chance to get right with the law.”

Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, said the court's deadlock 'shows us all just how high the stakes are in this election,” she said.

Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee who has vowed to deport all immigrants here illegally and build a wall along the Mexican border, attacked Clinton for doubling down on Obama's position.

'The election, and the Supreme Court appointments that come with it, will decide whether or not we have a border and, hence, a country,” Trump said.

The Tribune Washington Bureau and the Washington Post contributed to this report.