How the Supreme Court’s Deadlock Will Change Immigration Politics

Pratheepan Gulasekaram and Karthick Ramakrishnan, June 24, 2016- "United States v. Texas also implicates a less-discussed, but critical, issue: the growing involvement of states in setting immigration policy. ... [U.S. v.] Texas represents a new moment in immigration federalism. While previous state resistance meant selective application of executive action — strong in some places and weak in others — the state plaintiffs here were able to use a federal court to dismantle a major federal administrative policy. States were not able to just carve out a niche for their own oppositional lawmaking. Instead, they were able to effectively alter the course of a national program. Looking ahead, the result in Texas will probably embolden states to intervene more frequently in large-scale immigration decisions, taking sides in a policy fight that previously was left mainly to Congress and the presidency."