The Supreme Court on Thursday issued a long-anticipated ruling shooting down the Trump administration's attempt to overturn Barack Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA,) thus allowing DACA recipients to remain in the United States. Obama established the immigration policy in 2012 before expanding it again in 2014.
DACA allows its young undocumented recipients protection from deportation and the chance to obtain a work permit. Like many Obama-era orders, the Trump administration sought to end the program.
Had the Trump administration won, 700,000 DACA recipients—all of whom have passed criminal background checks and earned a high school diploma or the equivalent—would have been deported, despite many of them spending their most formative years in the United States.
The ruling comes just days after the Supreme Court ruled in favor of an expanded interpretation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, protecting LGBTQ people from discrimination in employment. The Trump administration had filed an amicus brief urging the court not to rule in favor of these expanded protections.
With two Supreme Court losses in one week, Trump's Twitter feed soon erupted.
These horrible & politically charged decisions coming out of the Supreme Court are shotgun blasts into the face of people that are proud to call themselves Republicans or Conservatives. We need more Justices or we will lose our 2nd. Amendment & everything else. Vote Trump 2020!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 18, 2020
With the graphic description of "shotgun blasts into the face" of conservatives, Trump claimed the rulings were politically charged and "horrible."
He went on to posit that perhaps the rulings were personal.
Do you get the impression that the Supreme Court doesn't like me?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 18, 2020
In reality, the decisions were largely in line with bipartisan public opinion. The vast majority of Americans—including over 70 percent of Republicans—believe that people should be protected from employment discrimination based on their sexual orientation. The same goes for discrimination on the basis of gender identity in employment, from which 68 percent of Republicans thought there should be protections.
Support for DACA falls between 70 percent and 85 percent support across an array of polls. A PEW Research Center poll conducted in February of this year found that 77 percent of Republicans thought DACA recipients should be granted permanent legal status.
Trump's tweets were met with exhaustion and mockery by many on Twitter.
Lmao, you've destroyed the Republican party, Spanky. And despite your worst efforts to destroy America with your hatred, you will FAIL as you've failed everywhere else.
BTW -- shotgun blast is an un-Presidential choice of words to a country reeling from acts of violence.
— BrooklynDad_Defiant! (@mmpadellan) June 18, 2020
Yeah, so sad you can't deport 700,000 young people who grew up here. What a shotgun blast to the face.
— Helen Kennedy (@HelenKennedy) June 18, 2020
pic.twitter.com/7REqpI3BJX
— Oliver Willis (@owillis) June 18, 2020
It's horrible to vote on the side of humanity and decency, you demented doorknob? Thanks to #SCOTUS for citing your own sickening statements referring to undocumented people as “animals" responsible for “the drugs, the gangs, the cartels, the crisis of smuggling and trafficking."
— Lesley Abravanel🆘 (@lesleyabravanel) June 18, 2020
It was even more exasperating that Trump made the rulings about him.
The narcissism...
— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) June 18, 2020
It's not that they don't like you, they care about people and their basic human rights. It's not all about you.
— David Weissman (@davidmweissman) June 18, 2020
All about you again Sybil.
— John Weaver (@jwgop) June 18, 2020
You're not a king. They're just doing their job to offer checks and balances on your office.
You should do yours.
— Libertarian Party (@LPNational) June 18, 2020
At the time of this writing, "NO ONE LIKES YOU" is trending nationally on Twitter.
Former President Barack Obama, who issued the policy that made up DACA, gave a more measured response.
Eight years ago this week, we protected young people who were raised as part of our American family from deportation. Today, I'm happy for them, their families, and all of us. We may look different and come from everywhere, but what makes us American are our shared ideals…
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) June 18, 2020
...and now to stand up for those ideals, we have to move forward and elect @JoeBiden and a Democratic Congress that does its job, protects DREAMers, and finally creates a system that's truly worthy of this nation of immigrants once and for all.
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) June 18, 2020
In the coming weeks, the Court is expected to rule on cases involving the disclosure of Trump's financial documents.
ABC
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