The U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether President Barack Obama’s executive action on immigration can forward but declined to hear an appeal from Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio on the same topic.
That’s no surprise. A federal appeals court had already ruled Arpaio didn’t have legal standing to bring the lawsuit.
His was the first one filed against President Obama’s plan designed to spare millions of undocumented citizens from deportation.
Arpaio claimed the program would allow more immigrants to enter the country illegally, increasing crime and thus creating a burden on local law enforcement. A federal judge said Arpaio's complaints were speculative. Supreme Court justices let stand that August ruling.
But, the high court separately decided to hear another, more significant case challenging the Obama administration’s immigration policy-- the one filed on behalf of 26 states, including Arizona, which have challenged the constitutionality of the plan.
The federal appeals court in New Orleans last year blocked the program while that lawsuit moves forward.
