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.

‘A National Embarrassment’: Kamala Harris Mocked for Incredibly Bizarre Trump Impression

Trump adversary running for Senate borrows his filibuster playbook

‘Quiet!’ Trump Snaps at ‘Failing’ NYT Reporter After War Crimes Question

Trump backs Hilton ahead of California GOP vote, testing Bianco’s grip on party endorsement

The era of amateur Vaticanology dawns in the United States

Vance en route to Pakistan for high-stakes Iran talks as ‘fragile’ ceasefire teeters

Late Breaking: Dem Leader Jeffries Calls on Swalwell to Drop Out of California Gov Race After Sex Abuse Allegations, Doesn’t Demand Resignation from House

Unusually High Number of Chinese Navy Ships Hit Seas as US Remains Laser Focused on Iran

Epstein survivors push back on Melania Trump hearing call as Comer vows ‘we will have hearings’

Breaking: NASA, Navy Personnel Rush to Recover Artemis II Astronauts After Pacific Ocean Landing

Sen Tim Sheehy makes emergency landing after in-flight engine failure

Pelosi, California Dems slam Swalwell over bombshell sexual assault allegations: ‘Indefensible’

Washington Post Journalist Pleads Guilty in Child Porn Case

Soviet-Era Groups Work to Win American Hearts for Another Communist Regime

Swalwell’s former female staffer drops bombshell allegations of sexual assault, exposing himself: report

“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.