Republicans cheered the Supreme Court's 4-4 ruling Thursday effectively killing President Barack Obama's executive amnesty plan for the remainder of his term, with Donald Trump praising the justices for blocking "one of the most unconstitutional actions ever undertaken by a president."
"The executive amnesty from President Obama wiped away the immigration rules written by Congress, giving work permits and entitlement benefits to people illegally in the country," the presumptive nominee said.
"This split decision also makes clear what is at stake in November. The election, and the Supreme Court appointments that come with it will decide whether or not we have a border and, hence, a country.
"Hillary Clinton has pledged to expand Obama's executive amnesty, hurting poor African-American and Hispanic workers by giving away their jobs and federal resources to illegal immigrant labor — while making us all less safe," Trump said.
He also took to Twitter:
Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus called the decision "a victory for the rule of law and our democracy.
"The Supreme Court has stopped an approach President Obama himself acknowledged 22 times he did not have the authority to implement, and has reaffirmed that only Congress has the power to make laws."
The court deadlocked on the president's plan to shield as many as 11 million illegal immigrants from deportation and grant them work permits.
The outcome underscores that the direction of U.S. immigration policy will be determined most likely by the presidential election in November — during which immigration has already played a significant role.
Illegals who would have benefited from President Obama's plan face no imminent threat of deportation because Congress has provided money to deal with only a small percentage of people who live in the country illegally — and Obama retains the discretion to decide whom to deport.
But the president's move to expand that protection to many others is effectively stymied.
The case was brought in December 2014 by 26 Republican-controlled states, led by Texas Attorney General Gov. Greg Abbott, who is now governor.
The other states involved were Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
Obama said Thursday's impasse "takes us further from the country we aspire to be."
But Republicans were unmoved by the president's dismay.
"While President Obama may be 'frustrated' by today's Supreme Court ruling to prevent — at least in part — his amnesty agenda, the American people are frustrated by this president believing the Constitution and the laws of this land do not apply to him," said Georgia Rep. Tom Price. "As the court has shown, they do apply."
South Dakota Sen. John Thune, chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, said the ruling underscored that "Congress is a coequal branch of the federal government, and just because President Obama didn't get his way in the House and Senate doesn't mean he just gets to go it alone.
"The president has bypassed Congress before in an attempt to cement his paper-thin legacy — and I'm glad that in this case, as in others before it, the Constitution has prevailed."
Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert noted that "by virtue of healthy, lawful immigration, this country is a melting pot, and better for it.
"But, first and foremost, it is also a nation of laws; and, people breaking the law — to cut in front of the million plus people trying to enter legally each year — should not be rewarded with blanket amnesty."
Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, which filed briefs backing the states, said that he was thankful that "enough members of the Supreme Court would not endorse Barack Obama's lawless power grab that would allow him to grant legal status and, potentially, citizenship to millions of illegal aliens."
Jay Sekulow, chief counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice, whose briefs in the case also backed the plaintiffs, said that the ruling "underscores what we have argued all along: impatient presidents don't get to change the law."
Carrie Severino, chief counsel and policy director of the Judicial Crisis Network, noted that if U.S. Appeals Court Judge Merrick Garland had been confirmed to the high court to participate in the ruling, "this case would have eviscerated the Constitution's checks and balances.
"President Obama's lawless efforts to legalize millions of illegal immigrants through sheer chutzpah and deception will go down in constitutional history as an ignominious violation of the separation of powers," she said.
Other Republicans voiced their support on Twitter:
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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