Goodlatte Statement on Supreme Court’s Decision to Consider President Obama’s Executive Overreach on Immigration

Washington, D.C.  – House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) issued the following statement following the Supreme Court’s decision to take up a case challenging President Obama’s executive actions on immigration: “President Obama stated 22 times that he does not have the authority to change immigration laws on his own yet he did so anyway. President Obama’s decision to ignore the limits placed on his power and act unilaterally to rewrite our nation’s immigration laws threatens the separation of powers and its checks and balances. So far, the federal courts have prevented President Obama’s executive actions from being implemented and I am hopeful that the Supreme Court will do the same. Such lawlessness must be stopped so that we protect the Constitution and the intent of the Founding Fathers that the legislative branch, which reflects the will of and is accountable to the American people, makes the laws, not the President.”Background: In December 2014, numerous states – led by the State of Texas – filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging President Obama’s executive overreach on immigration, and Chairman Goodlatte and others signed an amicus brief submitted to the federal court in support of the states’ lawsuit. On February 17, 2015 a federal judge temporarily blocked President Obama’s unilateral immigration actions. Following this decision, Chairman Goodlatte and other Members of Congress filed an amicus brief with the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in support of a continued injunction against President Obama’s executive overreach on immigration in the case of Texas v. United States. On November 10, 2015, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the injunction preventing President Obama’s executive overreach on immigration from being implemented.