Expert: Supreme Court Likely to Block Border Injunction

Miriam Jordan, New York Times, Mar. 4, 2020

"While insisting that a policy that has forced 60,000 asylum seekers to wait in Mexico violates United States law, a federal appeals court on Wednesday granted the Trump administration’s request to keep the “Remain in Mexico” restrictions in effect until March 11 for review by the Supreme Court.  The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reaffirmed its decision last week that the policy violates both United States and international law, stating that the policy is causing “extreme and irreversible harm.”  However, the court temporarily stayed its injunction against enforcing the so-called Migrant Protection Protocols after the government warned that the order could prompt thousands of migrants to try to enter the country and overwhelm the southwestern border.  If the Supreme Court does not grant the government’s request to take up its appeal of the Ninth Circuit’s injunction, the appeals court’s original decision will take effect on March 12, although only in the border states within its jurisdiction, California and Arizona.  If the high court agrees to hear the case and grant another emergency stay, the policy, which has been in effect since January 2019, could remain in place for the foreseeable future.  “It is very likely that the Supreme Court will grant the administration’s request to halt the Ninth Circuit’s original decision to suspend the policy,” said Stephen Yale-Loehr, an immigration professor at Cornell Law School."