The Trump Administration told the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that it will ask the Supreme Court to overturn a lower court’s injunction blocking the termination of DACA if the Appeals Court doesn’t issue a decision by Oct. 31. The Ninth Circuit heard arguments on May 15th but has yet to issue a ruling.
In a letter to the court, Justice Department attorney Mark Stern said, "We respectfully write to inform the Court that, in order to ensure review by the Supreme Court during its current Term, we intend to again petition the Supreme Court for writ of certiorari before judgment to review the district court's preliminary injunction order…The district court’s injunction has now been in place for more than nine months and, unless either this Court or the Supreme Court promptly intervenes, it could remain in force for at least another year, given the Supreme Court’s argument calendar."
In September of 2017, President Trump announced USCIS would stop accepting new DACA applications after October 5, 2017 and renewals after March 5, 2018. That prompted illegal-alien activists to sue to overturn the decision. On January 9th, federal district court Judge William Alsup blocked the Administration from phasing out DACA pending a decision on the merits of the case.
The Administration appealed Alsup's ruling to the Ninth Circuit and Supreme Court simultaneously, but the higher court declined to hear an immediate appeal. The justices said they assumed the appeals court would “proceed expeditiously to decide this case," but that hasn’t happened.
The Supreme Court has taken few cases that have not been fully reviewed by lower courts but, given the Ninth Circuit’s inaction, some justices may be interested in reviewing the matter, especially since Judge Alsup issued a nationwide injunction.
Read more in Bloomberg News.
