Senate Republicans filed an amicus brief yesterday against Pres. Obama’s executive amnesty, Deferred Action for Parents of Americans (DAPA), in the upcoming Supreme Court case. In the brief Senate Republicans claim that Pres. Obama overstepped his authority by issuing an executive action that would change current immigration laws.
“There is little doubt that [Obama] adopted the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (“DAPA”) program as part of an explicit effort to circumvent the legislative process,” the Republicans’ friend-of-the-court brief states.
DAPA was put on hold last February after Texas and 25 other states filed a lawsuit against the executive action. The injunction has been upheld by the Fifth Circuit Court that said DAPA would affect more than just immigration enforcement but would actually change the status of illegal aliens.
DAPA would provide approximately 5 million illegal aliens access to work permits and social security cards, which would qualify them for other state and federal benefits including welfare, essentially granting them legal status.
The Supreme Court will begin to hear arguments on the case on April 18th and is expected to give a ruling by the end of June.
Out of the 54-member Senate GOP conference 43 senators signed the brief while only 11 did not. Here are the 43 members who signed the brief:
- Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
- Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX)
- Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)
- Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN)
- Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY)
- Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO)
- Sen. John Boozman (R-AR)
- Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV)
- Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA)
- Sen. Daniel Coats (R-IN)
- Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS)
- Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN)
- Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR)
- Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID)
- Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT)
- Sen. Michael Enzi (R-WY)
- Sen. Deb Fischer (R-NE)
- Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC)
- Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA)
- Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT)
- Sen. John Hoeven (R-ND)
- Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK)
- Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-GA)
- Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI)
- Sen. James Lankford (R-OK)
- Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT)
- Sen. John McCain (R-AZ)
- Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS)
- Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY)
- Sen. David Perdue (R-GA)
- Sen. James Risch (R-ID)
- Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS)
- Sen. M. Michael Rounds (R-SD)
- Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL)
- Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE)
- Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC)
- Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL)
- Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL)
- Sen. Daniel Sullivan (R-AK)
- Sen. John Thune (R-SD)
- Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC)
- Sen. David Vitter (R-LA)
- Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS)
The 11 members who did not sign the brief include:
- Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH)
- Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC)
- Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME)
- Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA)
- Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ)
- Sen. Cory Gardner (R-CO)
- Sen. Dean Heller (R-NV)
- Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL)
- Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)
- Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH)
- Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA)
Read more on this story at Politico.
