Acting US Solicitor General Ian Gershengorn on Monday asked the US Supreme Court [official websites] to reconsider [petition, PDF] the case challenging the Obama administration’s immigration enforcement program. A divided court split 4-4 [JURIST report] in June, thereby allowing a Fifth Circuit [official website] ruling blocking the measures to stand. Recognizing that the court doesn’t often grant rehearing, Gershengorn argued that without a definitive ruling on the merits from the court, “a matter of ‘great national importance’ involving an ‘unprecedented and momentous’ injunction barring implementation of the Guidance will have been effectively resolved for the country as a whole by a court of appeals that has divided twice, with two judges voting for petitioners and two for respondent States.”

The question before the court was whether a state that provides subsidies to undocumented immigrants has standing to challenge the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) [official website] regarding its guidance seeking to establish a process for considering deferred action for more undocumented immigrants. Under the Obama administration, DHS has long utilized a system of “deferred action,” meaning it does not pursue deportation for certain illegal immigrants on a discretionary basis. In 2014 Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson [official profile] issued guidance seeking a deferred action protocol be established for undocumented immigrants who have lived in the US for five years and either came here as children or currently have children who are US citizens or permanent residents. Twenty-six states joined a suit [JURIST report] by Texas to challenge this guidance, arguing that the policy will create more immigrants with a deferred action status, and states must sustain a financial burden to maintain these individuals in their state systems. A federal judge blocked the policy [JURIST report] last year.