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.

Minnesota Officials Forced to Sound the Alarms Over Fungal STD Outbreak

Watch: Whoopi Goldberg Rushes to Explain Why She Was in the Epstein Files Seeking to Use His Private Jet

Immigration judge blocks deportation of Columbia anti-Israel agitator

Sanders-endorsed Senate candidate knocked for alleged flip-flop to ‘have it both ways’ on key issue

Hollywood Star Arrested, Charged After Altercation: ‘Held Down Until Police Arrived’

NYC Board of Elections worker says ‘not my job to report anyone’ when asked about registering non-citizens

Gun store owner says FBI asked him to check firearm sales against list of names, pics in Guthrie case

Mike Lee calls Schumer’s ‘Jim Crow 2.0’ attack on voter ID bill ‘paranoid fantasy’

Palestinian activist accused of expressing desire to ‘kill Jews’ wins deportation case

Air Force One scraps iconic Kennedy-era paint scheme for Trump-approved red, white, blue design

Inside world’s top science society’s convention bashing Trump, pushing DEI, pronouns: ‘Felt like a funeral’

How did Jeffrey Epstein get rich? Meet Les Wexner, the ex-Victoria’s Secret CEO who once worked with him

Mistrial declared in Texas ICE detention center ambush trial over defense lawyer’s T-shirt

Firebrand conservatives set to duke it out in GOP Texas AG debate

Remembering Rush Limbaugh, Five Years to the Day After His Passing

“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.