Supreme Court allows Trump administration to move forward with 'public charge' rule

[Valin]

The Hill

Harper Neidig

01/27/20

The Trump administration can move forward with a rule to make it harder for immigrants who rely on public assistance to gain legal status while a court challenge plays out, the Supreme Court ruled on Monday.

The Supreme Court voted 5-4 along ideological lines to lift a nationwide injunction on the proposal imposed by a federal judge in New York while the case is playing out in the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals.

The rule, from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), would make it easier for immigration officials to deny entry or legal status to people likely to rely on government assistance.

Under current regulations, the criteria for deciding if an immigrant would become a public charge is whether they are likely to rely on certain cash benefits. The new rule would expand that, defining public charge as someone who relies on cash and non-cash benefits such as housing or food assistance for more than 12 months in a three-year period.

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[Valin]

A Blow For Liberation From Left-Wing Judges

John Hinderaker

January 27, 2020

Since President Trump was inaugurated, leftists have brought a series of lawsuits on behalf of supposedly aggrieved parties–themselves, mostly–seeking to enjoin enforcement of administration policies. District Court judges in venues remote from the issue at hand, like a federal judge in Hawaii who purported to block implementation of the administration’s “travel ban,” have issued nationwide injunctions far exceeding the scope of any case or controversy actually before them (if any). This is a perversion of our legal system that encourages, to put it mildly, judge shopping. As a 41-year litigation veteran, I can tell you that judge shopping happens all the time. If a nationwide injunction is in prospect, the temptation to judge-shop is overwhelming.

This practice has come under nearly universal condemnation from judges and legal scholars, and many expect that before long, the U.S. Supreme Court will take decisive action to stop such overreaching by District Court judges. Earlier today, the Supreme Court took a step in that direction.

The Court ruled, on a party-line 5-4 vote, to grant a stay of a preliminary injunction barring implementation of the Trump administration’s “public charge” initiative, which simply enforces century-old federal immigration law. The administration’s rule shouldn’t even be controversial, but left-wing judges sought out by left-wing activists have put it in play. What is newsworthy is Justice Gorsuch’s blistering concurrence with the Court’s order, in which Justice Thomas joined:

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