113 Republican Members of Congress Back States’ Legal Challenge to Obama’s Immigration Actions
The latest news in Texas v. United States is that top Republicans in Congress yesterday filed an amici curiae brief on the side of the states challenging President Obama’s executive actions on immigration. Texas and 25 other states have challenged the actions, arguing that the president overstepped his executive power. The Republicans, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (Va.), are siding squarely with the states, arguing Obama’s executive action “changes the law and sets a new policy, exceeding the executive’s constitutional authority and disrupting the delicate balance of powers.” “Congress has created a comprehensive immigration scheme — which expresses its desired policy as to classes of immigrants — but the class identified by the [Homeland Security Department] directive for categorical relief is unsupported by this scheme,” the lawmakers wrote in an amicus brief filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. “Instead of setting enforcement priorities,” they added, “it created a class-based program that establishes eligibility requirements that, if met, grant unlawful immigrants a renewable lawful presence in the United States and substantive benefits.”
The brief was endorsed by 113 Republicans, including Sens. John Cornyn (Texas), the majority whip, Marco Rubio (Florida), Orrin Hatch (Utah) and Ted Cruz (Texas), a 2016 presidential hopeful. In the House, the supporters include Reps. Trey Gowdy (S.C.); Tom Price (Ga.); Michael McCaul (Texas), head of the Homeland Security Committee; and Lamar Smith (R-Texas), the former head of the Judiciary panel.
Here is a full list of the Republican members of Congress who signed on to the amici brief:
United States Senators
John Cornyn
Ted Cruz
John Barrasso
Roy Blunt
John Boozman
Dan Coats
Thad Cochran
Tom Cotton
Mike Crapo
Michael Enzi
Orrin Hatch
James Inhofe
Johnny Isakson
James Lankford
Mike Lee
Jerry Moran
Mitch McConnell
David Perdue
James Risch
Pat Roberts
Marco Rubio
Dan Sullivan
John Thune
David Vitter
Roger Wicker
Representatives
Bob Goodlatte
Lamar Smith
Robert Aderholt
Brian Babin
Lou Barletta (former Mayor, Hazleton, PA, and supported a tough immigration enforcement law that was struck down as unconstitutional)
Joe Barton
Mike Bishop
Diane Black
Marsha Blackburn
Charles Boustany
Mo Brooks
Michael Burgess
Bradley Byrne
Earl L. ‘Buddy’ Carter
John Carter
Steve Chabot
Curt Clawson
Tom Cole
Kevin Cramer
John Culberson
Ron DeSantis
Scott DesJarlais
Jeff Duncan
John Duncan
Blake Farenthold
John Fleming
Bill Flores
Randy Forbes
Virginia Foxx
Trent Franks
Bob Gibbs
Louie Gohmert
Paul Gosar
Trey Gowdy
Tom Graves
Vicky Hartzler
Jeb Hensarling
Richard Hudson
Tim Huelskamp
Will Hurd
Lynn Jenkins
Sam Johnson
Walter Jones
Mike Kelly
Steve King
Raul Labrador
Doug Lamborn
Leonard Lance
Barry Loudermilk
Mia Love
Kenny Marchant
Tom Marino
Michael McCaul
Tom McClintock
Patrick McHenry
Mark Meadows
Jeff Miller
Markwayne Mullin
Randy Neugebauer
Pete Olson
Steven Palazzo
Robert Pittenger
Ted Poe
Mike Pompeo
Bill Posey
Tom Price
John Ratcliffe
Phil Roe
Mike D. Rogers
Dana Rohrabacher
Tom Rooney
Keith Rothfus
David Schweikert
Pete Sessions
Mike Simpson
Adrian Smith
Jason Smith
Ann Wagner
Mark Walker
Randy Weber
Bruce Westerman
Roger Williams
Robert Wittman
Steve Womack
Ted Yoho
KJ