OBAMA ADMIN LOSES BIG ON IMMIGRATION REFORM AT SUPREME COURT

"President Obama suffered the biggest legal defeat of his administration Thursday when a deadlocked Supreme Court failed to revive his stalled plan to shield millions of undocumented immigrants from deportation and give them the right to work legally in the United States.
The justices’ votes were not announced, but the court’s liberals and conservatives split at oral argument this spring. The tie means that a lower court’s decision that Obama probably exceeded his powers in issuing the executive action keeps the plan from being implemented. [No opinion was issued, just a very short court order]
The court’s action crushed the hopes of about 4 million illegal immigrants estimated to be covered by Obama’s plan, which would have deferred deportation for those who have been in the country since 2010, have not committed any serious crimes and have family ties to U.S. citizens or others lawfully in the country.
Immigration already represents one of the flash points of the 2016 elections."

 Note that the Court did NOT decide whether the executive order was valid or not. The Court refuse to lift the stay of the temporary order issued by U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit.  That stay of implementation of the executive orders was nationwide and will remain in effect until the case is tried.  A final decision on the legality of the executive orders may be years away.  If and when it gets to the Supreme Court, we can expect the liberals to vote in favor or the administration and the conservatives to vote against.  Kennedy will probably be the swing vote.