We have an opinion, and it is DACA.
No glitches today, at least for me.
And note the R-number. Just one opinion today.
The court holds that the decision is reviewable.
"For the reasons that follow, we conclude that the Acting Secretary did violate the [Administrative Procedure Act]," and the decision to rescind DACA "must be vacated."
Ginsburg, Breyer, and Kagan joined the opinion in full.
Sotomayor joined most of the opinion.
From Thomas: "Today’s decision must be recognized for what it is: an effort to avoid a politically controversial but legally correct decision."
The majority says that the decision to terminate DACA was arbitrary and capricious because the acting secretary's decision to terminate the program discussed the legality of the benefits associated with DACA but didn't discuss forbearance (the decision to defer removal) or whether there was legitimate reliance on the DACA memorandum.
Thomas concurred in the judgment in part and dissented in part, joined by Alito and Gorsuch.
Alito and Kavanaugh filed opinions concurring in the judgment in part and dissenting in part.
There were multiple cases involved here in different postures, which is the reason the judgment is complicated. But it is basically a 5-4 decision.
So, as the Chief says toward the beginning of the decision, the question in this case has always been not about whether the Trump administration COULD terminate DACA, because everyone agrees that it can. The question is whether the Trump administration went about it the right way here, and the answer is no.
Part IV, which Sotomayor does not join, holds that the decision to end DACA was not motivated by animus -- an intent to discriminate.
The Chief says at the end that "the appropriate recourse is therefore to remand to DHS so that it may reconsider the problem anew." This sounds a lot like the census case to me.
Justice Thomas is concurring in the part of the ruling that the Trump administration's decision to terminate DACA was not motivated by an intent to discriminate.
The rest of Justice Thomas's opinion is really a dissent.
Justice Thomas concludes: "This ruling is incorrect and it will hamstring all future agency attempts to undo actions that exceed statutory authority."
From Alito's opinion, which is quite short: The Court "tells the Department of Homeland Security to go back and try again."
Kavanaugh chides the majority for looking only at the memo from Acting DHS Secretary Elaine Duke, when in his view it should have also considered the memo from former DHS Secretary Nielsen, which he believed provided additional and adequate explanation for the decision.
Kavanaugh says that today's ruling "seems to allow the Department on remand to relabel and reiterate the substance of the Nielsen Memorandum, perhaps with some elaboration as suggested in the Court's opinion."
Kavanaugh blames Congress for "the uncertainty over the status of the DACA recipients."
Like Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh agrees with the majority on the discrimination claim but otherwise dissents.
Folks, I have to jump off to start writing my story about today's ruling. I'm almost certain we will be doing this again on Monday and possible other days next week.
Okay, that is my first run through the opinion. To summarize broadly: Five justices (Roberts, RBG, Breyer, Sotomayor, and Kagan) agree that the Trump administration violated the laws governing federal agencies when it decided to end DACA because the memorandum that Acting Secretary Elaine Duke wrote to recommend termination failed to consider important parts of the problem before the agency,. Four of those justices (all but Sotomayor) rejected the challengers' argument that the decision to end DACA was motivated by an intent to discriminate against Latinos.
Justices Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch and Kavanaugh agreed with Roberts/RBG/Breyer/Kagan that the decision to end DACA was not motivated by an intent to discriminate, but they dissented from the rest of the ruling.
Okay, I need to get to work now on my story. Thanks so much for joining us. We should know as soon as this afternoon when we can expect opinions next week; we will tweet about it and put up an editor's note as soon as we do. Take care, and stay well.
Thanks, everyone, for joining. Stay on the lookout for further analysis on today's opinion from Amy and a host of other contributors. We'll let you know, likely later today, if further opinions are to be expected next week and on which days. 15 to go. Until next time!
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