Yesterday the House of Representatives voted to support the legal challenge against the executive actions regarding immigration reform taken by President Barack Obama. Republicans, who are in the majority in the House, believe that the President has exceeded his constitutional authority by expanding programs for undocumented immigrants unilaterally.
They won the argument in a vote that ended up 234-186 for and against, and Paul Ryan, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, is now authorized to file a brief as a friend of the court in the upcoming United States vs. Texas case. Texas is leading 25 other states in a Supreme Court challenge against the President’s actions. Arguments will be heard in April, with a ruling possible by June.
Ryan maintains that Congress alone has the power to legislate changes in the United States immigration system and says that the fight is about protecting the integrity of the US Constitution. Ryan believes that the separation of power could not be any clearer but that the Obama administration has been continually blurring those lines in recent years and has now stepped over the boundaries completely by taking the actions it did in November 2014.
The House of Representatives blocked the comprehensive immigration reform bill that was passed by the Senate in 2013, refusing to even allow a vote on it and prompting the President to take executive action, but his actions outraged Republicans, accusing him of executive overreach.