Conservative Judges Curbed Executive Powers Under Obama, And Now Trump

Congressional Republicans cheered rulings during the Obama era that limited the powers of the executive branch, curtailing the then-president’s efforts to expand health care, shield immigrants from deportation and protect transgender students. But now they are facing a Republican president being hemmed in by those same principals, with Democratic officials using them to block efforts to limit travel from predominately Muslim countries and punish so-called sanctuary cities. But legal observers urge caution to both sides: “Whatever California can do to resist immigration law, Texas can do to resist environmental laws,” professor Josh Blackman of South Texas College of Law told the New York Times. On the Volokh Conspiracy legal blog, George Mason University law professor Ilya Somin wrote: “Some conservative Republicans may not like the outcome of the [sanctuary cities] case. But they will have reason to celebrate it the next time a liberal Democratic president tries a similar move.”