Don’t depend on Republican leadership . . .

. . .  not to use  yesterday’s court ruling enjoining Obama’s executive order amnesty as a green light to drop DHS funding restrictions.

Last night Federal District Court Judge Andrew S Hanen issued a preliminary injunction at least temporarily (and we would add theoretically) stopping the implementation of President Obama’s immigration executive order  referred to as Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents” (DAPA). That and Obama’s extension of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program were temporarily enjoined. Identified agencies would be in violation of the judge’s order should they proceed to implement Obama’s directives.

Obama’s executive orders are intended to legalize the presence of illegal aliens and their parents, and in combination with other provisions of law, expand their eligibility for government benefits.  The Obama directives provide for social security cards and, by application, eligibility in many cases for direct cash welfare benefits in the form of so called earned income tax credits, whether or not a tax return was ever previously filed.  Recent revelations and interpretations indicate that the issuance of a Social Security card combined with the eligibility for drivers licenses in some states could also be used for voter registration.

Through the day we have endeavored to absorb conservative takes on the ruling and it is clear to us that we should absolutely continue to pressure Congress to defund any potential use of government resources to implement Obama’s intentions. Legislators of any stripe that would pretend that the ruling lets them off the hook, allowing them to proceed to fund without restriction the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the agency largely responsible for direct implementation of Obama’s directives, because the decision supposedly bars the implementation of the orders, are being surreptitious.

It is even more important to impart language denying such funding into the  DHS  budget because to fail to do so would imply that Congress is now indifferent to the use of the funds, undercutting or perhaps making moot the legal case opposing the constitutionality of Obama’s executive orders as an usurpation of congressional powers.

Reading knowledgeable court observers it is by no means certain that the temporary injunction won’t be lifted on appeal or that opponents of the constitutionality of the executive orders would prevail given the vagaries of the system and especially the Supreme Court.  Read Andrew McCarthy at National Review Online (NRO)  Obama’s Amnesty Hits a Legal Roadblock – – “If a Texas judge’s temporary stay against it is upheld, it could be headed to the Supreme Court. ”  Patrick Brennan at NRO — sets forth some of the vagaries in the process up to a Supreme Court hearing —  Federal Judge Blocks Implementation of Obama’s Executive Amnesty, For Now.   No conservative cognizant of the makeup of the Supreme Court can have any confidence it will protect Congress’s authority.

The legislative dynamics for stopping funding of executive order amnesty  appear to have been strengthened by the ruling but are by no means certain. The hapless at best Republican fears of being portrayed as obstructionist by minority Democrats over general DHS funding remains.  Nevertheless quotes attributed to Speaker Boehner and  Majority Leader McConnell in this Huffington Post article may indicate that something has dawned on them. Perhaps now they are seeing that they can properly blame the Democrat Senators who say they oppose Obama’s overreach, but have none the less been part of protecting it.

R Mall

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