Supreme Court Temporarily Blocks Biden From Ending Trump-Era Border Policy; Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts halts Title 42 lift as states file last-ditch Supreme Court appeal

WSJ: Supreme Court Temporarily Blocks Biden From Ending Trump-Era Border Policy:

Chief Justice John Roberts freezes lower court order canceling Title 42

Chief Justice John Roberts temporarily extended a Trump-era policy that bars asylum applicants from entering the U.S. to protect the American population from Covid-19, issuing a brief order on Monday that maintains the status quo while the Supreme Court considers an emergency request from Republican-led states to keep the exclusions in place.

In November, a federal judge found the policy unlawful because it denies applicants a chance to seek humanitarian protection. Title 42, the pandemic-era public-health measure allowing migrants to be quickly expelled back to Mexico after crossing the border illegally, was set to expire on Wednesday, leaving immigration officials scrambling to put in place a new legal regime that could stem the flow of unlawful migration.

Chief Justice Roberts, who oversees emergency matters from the District of Columbia, gave the Biden administration until 5 p.m. Tuesday to file its legal response. The temporary order is to remain in effect until the court decides the emergency request, led by the Republican attorneys general of Arizona and Louisiana.

The order doesn’t indicate the court’s view of the legal issues. But the court’s conservative majority has in other cases issued emergency orders that blocked Biden administration priorities, from public-health measures to combat Covid-19 to the plan to forgive student-loan debt. In the latter case, the court rejected the administration’s request to lift lower court orders suspending the plan and set the cases for argument in February. —>READ MORE HERE

Roberts halts Title 42 lift as states file last-ditch Supreme Court appeal:

Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts temporarily halted Wednesday’s planned lifting of the Trump-era Title 42 health program Monday after more than a dozen Republican-led states filed an emergency application to the high court.

Roberts gave the Department of Homeland Security until 5 p.m. Tuesday to respond to the appeal by 19 Republican attorneys general and stayed a federal court ruling from last month that ordered the program wrapped up on Dec. 21.

Once the administration’s response is filed, Roberts can deny the states’ application on his own, or — more likely — refer the matter to the full court for consideration.

Title 42, established at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, allows border officials to automatically refuse entry to migrants who may have been infected by the deadly virus.

Under the policy, law enforcement officials have removed approximately 2.5 million illegal border-crossers apprehended at the US-Mexico frontier, according to government statistics.

But a three-judge federal appeals court ​on Friday rejected the states’ plea to block the Nov. 15 ruling by Senior US District Judge Emmet Sullivan scrapping Title 42. —>READ MORE HERE

Source