In the case United States v. Texas the Supreme Court decided 8-1 in favor of the Biden administration’s deportation policy it instituted in 2021. The case results from a “Department of Homeland Security policy that prioritizes certain groups of illegal immigrants for arrest and removal — namely, suspected terrorists, dangerous criminals, and those recently caught at the border” reports National Review.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh, writing for the majority, explained that “the States essentially want the Federal Judiciary to order the Executive Branch to alter its arrest policy so as to make more arrests.”

In a memo, Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas explained DHS does not have the resources to apprehend and deport all of the 11 million illegal immigrants living in the U.S. Texas and Louisiana claimed that this violated federal statutes that purportedly require DHS to arrest more illegal immigrants pending their removal.

“To be clear, our…decision today should in no way be read to suggest or imply that the Executive possesses some freestanding or general constitutional authority to disregard statutes requiring or prohibiting executive action,” wrote Kavanaugh, clarifying that this case is narrow and pertains only to the executive branch’s traditional discretion over whether to take enforcement actions against violators of federal law.

Kavanaugh also noted that the states cite no precedent, calling the lawsuit “extraordinarily unusual.” Kavanaugh was joined in his opinion by Chief Justice Roberts as well as Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Ketanji Brown Jackson, and Elena Kagan.

Only Justice Samuel Alito dissented, writing, “This sweeping Executive Power endorsed by today’s decision may at first be warmly received by champions of a strong Presidential power, but if Presidents can expand their powers as far as they can manage in a test of strength with Congress, presumably Congress can cut executive power as much as it can manage by wielding the formidable weapons at its disposal. That is not what the Constitution envisions.”