Sotomayor at DACA Oral Arguments: ‘This Is About Our Choice to Destroy Lives’

During oral arguments at the United States Supreme Court Tuesday on he future of the Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals (DACA) amnesty program, Justice Sonia Sotomayor injected politics into the discussion, saying President Donald Trump has said he would find a way to keep DACA recipients in the United States but has not done so.

Sotomayor also addressed what other justices cited — the “reliance interests” of DACA recipients, or how the government program has allowed illegal migrants to get Social Security numbers, drivers licenses, and work permits that they have come to rely on.

Sotomayor said:

I think my colleagues have rightly pointed [out] there’s a whole lot of reliance interests that weren’t looked at, including the very President of — current President telling DACA-eligible people that they were safe under him and that he would find a way to keep them here. And so he hasn’t and, instead, he’s done this. And that, I think, has something to be considered before you rescind a policy.

“Right,” Solicitor General Noel Francisco said.

Karen Bass skips out on multiple LAHSA meetings despite homelessness being central to reelection campaign

Fox News Names New Co-Host for ‘The Five’

Clinton-appointed judge triggers appeal after blocking key voter citizenship law

Newsom promises new legal fight after Trump gets Supreme Court victory on mail-in voting

Family Sues Six Flags After 22-Year-Old Dies from Roller Coaster Injuries

Former SPLC chief financial officer pleads not guilty in donor fraud case

How Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library shared ‘gift of literacy’ with millions of children

Globetrotting sailor nabbed in Canada over alleged child sex crimes aboard sailboat: FBI

Trump mourns Dolly Parton, orders US flags lowered nationwide after country music icon dies

Pritzker’s swagger stunt backfires as critics roast viral video: ‘Cringiest thing he’s ever posted’

Mamdani launches fast-track housing-court push, says landlords unable to comply ‘should not be a landlord’

Breaking: Dolly Parton Dies at Age 80, Four Days After Health Update

DHS: Pedophiles, Drug Traffickers, And Other Thugs Among 162 Illegal Haitians Deported Home After TPS Ends

Dolly Parton dies at age 80

Trump administration races to overhaul America’s air traffic control system by 2028

“Not just say I’ll give you six months to do it,” Sotomayer said, referring to Trump’s past announcement that he would hold off on rescinding DACA for six months to allow Congress to come up with a legislative solution.

“And where is the political decision made clearly?” Sotomayor said referring to the June 22, 2018 memorandum issued by Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen to explain why the department was rescinding DACA.

“That this is not about the law; this is about our choice to destroy lives,” Sotomayor said, directly expressing what she believed a ruling to end DACA would mean to those enrolled in it.

The back and forth between the justices, Francisco and two attorneys who argued for DACA petitioners — attorney Ted Olson and Michael Mongan, Solicitor General at California Department of Justice – included more discussion about the impact the ruling would have on both DACA recipients and the future enforcement of federal immigration law.

Olson and Mongan argued that the Trump administration did not provide a compelling reason for rescinding DACA, which came to the high court after differing results in lower court decisions on the matter.