Summary
Conservative U.S. Supreme Court justices Tuesday appeared sympathetic to President Donald Trump's effort to rescind a program that protects from deportation hundreds of thousands of immigrants who entered the United States illegally as children -- dubbed "Dreamers" -- part of his tough immigration policies.
Several of the five conservative justices appeared skeptical that courts could even review the Republican president's 2017 plan to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which had been implemented in 2012 by his Democratic predecessor Barack Obama.
Gorsuch and Kavanaugh also seemed skeptical that the administration had not adequately addressed its reasons for rescinding the program, as DACA advocates have argued.
Trump's administration has argued that Obama exceeded his constitutional powers when he created DACA by executive action, bypassing Congress.
The lower courts ruled that Trump's move to rescind DACA was likely "arbitrary and capricious" and violated a U.S. law called the Administrative Procedure Act.
The initial memo rescinding DACA, the plaintiffs said, gave a "one-sentence explanation" and did not spell out why the administration believed the program is unlawful. The justices will also have to decide whether the administration's action against DACA is even something courts can review.
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