President Barack Obama sharply criticized the Supreme Court’s deadlocked decision. Supreme Court deadlocks, thwarting Obama’s immigration actions The high court ruling is a major blow to Obama's effort to redeem his legacy on immigration.

The Supreme Court has thwarted President Barack Obama’s drive to expand his executive actions on immigration by making as many as five million immigrants currently in the U.S. illegally eligible for quasi-legal status and work permits.

By dividing 4-4, the justices left in place a lower court order forbidding the president from launching a new program to grant “deferred action” status to illegal immigrants who are parents of U.S. citizens or green card holders.


"Today's decision is frustrating to those who seek to grow our economy and bring a rationality to our immigration system," Obama said from the White House Thursday. "I think it is heartbreaking for the millions of immigrants who've made their lives here."

In a phone interview with POLITICO, Texas attorney general Ken Paxton — whose state led the 26-state coalition challenging Obama's executive actions in court — said his legal team would head back to the trial court where the programs were initially blocked to seek a permanent injunction on Obama's initiatives.

"I think the Constitution was upheld and this idea that there is a separation of powers — that no one person gets to make up law — was upheld," Paxton said. "That’s a great thing for America."

The high court ruling is a major blow to Obama’s effort to redeem his legacy on immigration, an issue which was pushed to the back burner early in his presidency and never regained much momentum. It also leaves Obama branded by many immigration activists as the “deporter-in-chief” for overseeing the removal of more than 2.5 million migrants from the U.S.

Obama hoped to counter those perceptions with the executive-action program he created for so-called “Dreamers” in 2012 and the new one for parents, which was set to begin early last year before a federal judge in Texas halted it.

The Supreme Court decision does not signal the beginning of a new wave of deportations since the lawsuit the justices were considering focused on the benefits Obama sought to accord to qualifying immigrants, not his administration’s right to decide priorities and timing for deportations.

However, the ruling does raise questions about the validity of “deferred action” status and work permits issued to more than 700,000 immigrants in the past four years under Obama’s program for “Dreamers,” also known as “Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals” or “DACA.”

Despite the profound consequences of the case for millions of immigrants and their families, the shorthanded high court's deadlock was relayed in a one-page opinion saying simply: "The judgment is affirmed by an equally divided court."

As is usual when the justices split evenly, no tally was released of how the justices voted. However, based on comments at oral arguments in the case, it appeared the justices were split along the usual ideological lines with the four Democratic appointees supportive of the legality of Obama's plan and the four Republican appointees inclined to find it went beyond his legal powers.

Chief Justice John Roberts announced the even split in the case at the end of the court's release of opinions on Thursday. Roberts nonchalantly announced the result together with the deadlock in a less-prominent case Thursday relating to the jurisdiction of tribal Indian courts.

The stalemate at the Supreme Court is likely to turn up the heat further on the immigration issue in the presidential campaign. It could make the Supreme Court itself more of an issue in that contest and in Senate races around the country, as Democrats highlight the impact of the vacancy Senate Republican leaders have refused to fill since the unexpected death of Justice Antonin Scalia in February.

Reaction from the political world was swift and, like the court, sharply split.

“Today, Article I of the Constitution was vindicated,” House Speaker Paul Ryan said in a statement. “The Supreme Court’s ruling makes the president’s executive action on immigration null and void. The Constitution is clear: The president is not permitted to write laws—only Congress is. This is another major victory in our fight to restore the separation of powers.”

Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton denounced the decision, while also seeming to minimize it.

“Today’s deadlocked decision from the Supreme Court is unacceptable, and show us all just how high the stakes are in this election,” she wrote. "Today’s decision by the Supreme Court is purely procedural and casts no doubt on the fact that DAPA and DACA are entirely within the President's legal authority.”

Clinton also linked the momentous immigration ruling to the standoff over filling the seat opened by Justice Antonin Scalia’s death in February. Republicans have refused to hold a hearing or vote on Obama’s nominee for the slot, appeals court judge Merrick Garland.

“In addition to throwing millions of families across our country into a state of uncertainty, this decision reminds us how much damage Senate Republicans are doing by refusing to consider President Obama’s nominee to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court. Our families and our country need and deserve a full bench, and Senate Republicans need to stop playing political games with our democracy and give Judge Merrick Garland a fair hearing and vote,” Clinton said.

One Clinton aide was even more blunt about his feelings on the ruling.

““F***. Awful news,” tweeted Jesse Lehrich, a spokesman for presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.

Other Democrats also slammed the ruling, while Republicans said they were delighted with the outcome.

“The Supreme Court tie on immigration decision is exactly why #WeNeedNine. @SCOTUSnom Garland deserves a hearing and vote,” Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) tweeted.

“Deeply saddened by divided #SCOTUS decision in #USvTexas. We should be keeping families together, not tearing them apart!” Rep, Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) wrote on Twitter.

“Obama's illegal action on #immigration has been blocked! A huge win for our Constitution and for our rule of law,” Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.) tweeted.

All-but-certain Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has vowed to revoke Obama’s actions and step up efforts to deport millions of illegal immigrants out of the U.S.

Clinton has pledged to expand Obama’s executive actions and seek a more permanent solution through Congress.

Because the new ruling doesn’t set precedent for future cases, it doesn’t slam the door on future executive actions, but it does demonstrate the perils of a president trying to act without explicit authority from Congress.

Seung Min Kim contributed to this report.