WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday temporarily blocked a new one Texas immigration law In response to a request from the Biden administration.
In an order by conservative Justice Samuel Alito, the court froze a lower court ruling that allowed the law to take effect on Sunday.
The decision has now been blocked until March 13, giving all nine judges more time to determine the next steps.
Alito also ordered Texas to respond to the Biden administration’s request by March 11.
The law in question, known as SB4, allows police to arrest and impose criminal penalties on migrants who cross the border illegally from Mexico.
The dispute is the latest standoff between the Biden administration and the state of Texas over immigration enforcement at the US-Mexico border.
A federal judge blocked the law after the Biden administration sued, but the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit said in a brief order that it could go into effect on March 10 if the Supreme Court declines to intervene.
In an emergency address Monday, Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar said the Texas law is “plainly inconsistent” with Supreme Court precedent dating back 100 years.
“These decisions recognize that the power to admit and remove noncitizens is a primary responsibility of the national government, and that when Congress enacts legislation addressing these issues, state laws prevail,” he said.
The appeals court, Prelogar added, did not explain why it allowed the law to go into effect.
He rejected Texas’ argument that the law was defensible under the Constitution’s War Clause on the basis that the state effectively fought a border invasion.
“An increase in unauthorized immigration is clearly not an invasion within the meaning of the War Clause,” Prelogar wrote.
The city of El Paso and two immigrant rights groups, Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center and American Gateways, also challenged the law and filed their own emergency appeals with the Supreme Court.