A deadlocked U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday thwarted President Barack Obama’s plan to defer the deportation of millions of undocumented immigrants.
The 4-4 decision left in place a lower court decision that rejected an Obama bid to set a new immigration policy by executive order after Congress failed to pass comprehensive immigration changes.
He called the ruling “heartbreaking” for the immigrants who will not be able to “come out of the shadows to more fully contribute to this country in a meaningful way.” But he said there will be no push to deport law-abiding immigrants living in the U.S., even though the ruling leaves their continued presence in the country in legal limbo.
Obama, as he has in the past, condemned Republicans in the Senate for refusing to consider his appointment of federal appeals court Judge Merrick Garland to fill the ninth seat on the court left vacant by the death earlier this year of Justice Antonin Scalia. The lawmakers say the seat should be filled by the country’s next president, after Obama leaves office in January.
Texas and 25 other states sued the Obama administration over his immigration plan, arguing that it was unconstitutional since it conflicted with current federal immigration law. The administration, though, argued that the states had no standing to sue, since immigration law falls under the purview of the federal government.
