WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on the Supreme Court blocking President Barack Obama’s plan to shield millions of immigrants in the U.S. illegally from deportation (all times local):
12:20 p.m.
President Barack Obama is reassuring millions of people that they don’t need to fear immediate deportation.
The Supreme Court’s tie vote effectively kills Obama’s plan to shield millions more immigrants in the U.S. illegally from deportation and granted them work permits.
But Obama says the opinion doesn’t change his administration’s enforcement priorities.
Obama says his administration will continue focusing its limited enforcement resources on people who have committed a crime and that deportation for long-term immigrants who aren’t criminals will remain a low priority.
Still, Obama says the deadlock is frustrating for immigrants who want to work and contribute to the economy. He says it’s “heartbreaking” for them.
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12:15 p.m.
For those listening to Supreme Court justices read summaries of their opinions in the courtroom, the fact that the justices were split on the president’s immigration plan slipped by some.
At the end of the session, after Justice Samuel Alito had finished reading a lengthy summary of his dissent in a case about affirmative action, Chief Justice John Roberts said that two cases had been affirmed by an equally divided court, the way the court announces it has tied.
Roberts said nothing other than identifying the two cases by the numbers and names the court refers to them by. The immigration plan case was: 15-674, U.S. v. Texas.
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12:15 p.m.
Hillary Clinton says a tie vote by the Supreme Court blocking President Barack Obama’s immigration plan is “unacceptable.”
Thursday’s ruling effectively kills Obama’s plan to shield millions living in the U.S. illegally from deportation — a plan Clinton supports.
In a statement released by her campaign, Clinton defended the legality of Obama’s plan, saying the ruling was “purely procedural.” But, she says, it’s a reminder of the “harm Donald Trump would do” to immigrant families and “how much damage” Senate Republicans are causing by refusing to consider Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland.
She said as president, she would “do everything possible under the law to go further to protect families.”
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12:15 p.m.
President Barack Obama is predicting that the U.S. immigration system will eventually be overhauled.
He says it’s not a matter of “if,” but a matter of “when.”
Obama has commented after the Supreme Court deadlocked 4-4 on executive action he took to expand a program shielding immigrants living illegally in the U.S. from deportation.
Obama says the country deserves an immigration policy that reflects the goodness of the American people.
He says he hopes that will be an outcome of the voting in November for control of the White House and Congress.
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12:05 p.m.
President Barack Obama is using the deadlocked Supreme Court opinion on his immigration actions to hammer Republicans for refusing to confirm his nominee to the Supreme Court.
Obama says Republicans are allowing partisan politics to jeopardize critical issues. He says, “America should not let it stand.”
The president says his immigration actions can’t go forward until the court has a ninth justice to break the tie.
Obama is also alluding to Republican Donald Trump’s call for building a border wall with Mexico. Obama says the U.S. doesn’t need to wall itself off and that immigration isn’t something to fear.
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12 p.m.
President Barack Obama says the Supreme Court decision blocking his immigration plan sets the system back and “takes us further from the country we aspire to be.”
Obama says America has been a refuge for the world for more than two centuries. He says it’s a diverse and inclusive nation because it’s a nation of immigrants.
Obama sought to use his own authority to shield from deportation millions of immigrants living illegally in the country.
The high court, which tied 4-4, effectively kills Obama’s plan for the duration of his presidency.
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11:30 a.m.
President Barack Obama will speak from the White House at midday Thursday about the Supreme Court vote on his immigration plan.
The White House says Obama will deliver a statement at 11:45 a.m. EDT from the Brady Press Briefing Room. The statement was hastily arranged and comes just before Obama departs Washington for a trip to the West Coast.
The high court’s tie vote effectively kills Obama’s plan for the duration of his presidency.
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10:40 a.m.
A tie vote by the Supreme Court is blocking President Barack Obama’s immigration plan that sought to shield millions living in the U.S. illegally from deportation.
The justices’ one-sentence opinion on Thursday effectively kills the plan for the rest of Obama’s presidency.
A tie vote sets no national precedent but leaves in place the ruling by the lower court. In this case, the federal appeals court in New Orleans said the Obama administration lacked the authority to shield up to 4 million immigrants from deportation and make them eligible for work permits without approval from Congress.
Texas led 26 Republican-dominated states in challenging the program Obama announced in November 2014. Congressional Republicans also backed the states’ lawsuit.
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