SCOTUSblog by Amy Howe 10/19/2020
The Supreme Court announced on Monday morning that it would take up two cases arising out of the Trump administration’s effort to stem immigration through the United States’ border with Mexico. The justices granted review to weigh in on the long-running dispute over the funding for President Donald Trump’s border wall, as well as the legality of the Trump administration’s “remain in Mexico†policy, which allows the Department of Homeland Security to return immigrants seeking asylum to Mexico while they wait for an asylum hearing in U.S. immigration court.
Monday’s announcement followed an order on Friday fast-tracking the Trump administration’s appeal in a third case relating to immigration: Trump v. New York, a dispute over the administration’s plan to exclude undocumented immigrants from the population count used to allocate seats in the House of Representatives. However, unlike Trump v. New York, it seems possible – if Democrat Joe Biden wins the White House in the upcoming election and cancels the two controversial border policies – that the court may not ultimately hear argument in either case granted on Monday.
Border-wall funding
The decision to grant review in Trump v. Sierra Club did not come as a surprise. In July 2019, the court – by a vote of 5-4 – allowed the federal government to continue to spend federal money to build the wall while a legal challenge continued. The justices then turned down a July 2020 request to order a temporary stop to construction, rejecting the challengers’ argument that the government might be able to finish building the wall before the litigation is finished.
---
Asylum policy
The Trump administration formally announced the “remain in Mexico†policy, officially known as the Migrant Protection Protocols, in December 2018, but the lower courts blocked the government from implementing the policy. In March, over a dissent from Sotomayor, the justices granted a request from the Trump administration to allow it to enforce the policy while it appealed to the Supreme Court.
More:
https://www.scotusblog.com/2020/10/justices-take-up-border-wall-remain-in-mexico-cases/
