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- SCOTUS on Tuesday kept a controversial immigration policy implemented under former President Donald Trump in place.
- The policy enables the United States to quickly expel asylum seekers at the border on the basis of public health concerns.
- “We are a court of law, not policymakers of last resort,” conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday kept a controversial immigration policy implemented under former President Donald Trump in place, allowing the US to turn away asylum seekers at the border.
The policy, known as Title 42, was set to expire last week but 19 Republican-led states filed an emergency request at the Supreme Court, urging the justices to maintain it.
In response, Chief Justice John Roberts temporarily halted the policy’s termination, and Tuesday’s ruling represents an extension of that pause. The nation’s highest court announced that it would hear oral arguments on the dispute in February.
The justices voted 5-4 to grant the Republican-led states’ request, with conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch joining the three liberal members in voting against the plea.
The move delivers a devastating blow to immigration advocates, who have long been fighting for an end to the controversial policy, first enacted at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. The policy enables the United States to quickly expel asylum seekers at the border on the basis of public health concerns.
Gorsuch, appointed by Trump, wrote in a dissenting opinion that the court’s decisions are “unwise.”
“But the current border crisis is not a COVID crisis. And courts should not be in the business of perpetuating administrative edicts designed for one emergency only because elected officials have failed to address a different emergency,” Gorsuch, joined by Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, wrote. “We are a court of law, not policymakers of last resort.”
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