A lawsuit from a sheriff in Arizona who alleged that the actions taken by President Obama on immigration reform were against the Constitution has been dismissed by a US federal court. The US Court of Appeals’ DC Circuit voted on Friday to uphold a ruling made by a lower court that Joe Arpaio, the sheriff of Maricopa County, had no grounds to challenge the executive actions taken by Obama.
Eric Schultz, the deputy press secretary for the White House, declared “we are pleased” on Friday after the court’s finding was revealed. He added that the court had correctly recognized that lawsuits resting on “baseless speculation” are not permitted to be heard by federal courts under the US Constitution.
Schultz went on to say that the White House “will continue to work toward resolving the legal challenges so that the administration can move forward with implementing all of the president’s commonsense immigration policies.” Judge Nina Pillard, writing on behalf of a panel of three judges, said that the sheriff’s prediction of increased rates of crime and a rising jail population if the executive actions taken by the president were allowed to go ahead rested on supposition and go against established facts.
Arpaio’s lawyer, Larry Klayman, says he intends to appeal to the Supreme Court. Obama’s executive actions, which he announced in November last year, would protect almost five million undocumented immigrants from deportation and grant them work permits.