Supreme Court allows Trump to withhold documents on DACA

The Supreme Court on Friday put on hold a lower court ruling requiring the Trump administration to turn over documents related to President Trump’s decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.

The split 5-4 ruling is a defeat for groups seeking to sue the Trump administration in California over the perceived illegality of the decision to end DACA, an Obama-era program which protects from deportation immigrants who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children.

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In a dissent, the court’s liberal justices criticized the majority for intervening in a “discovery-related dispute,” CNN reported.

“This court,” Justice Stephen Breyer wrote, joined by three other justices, is “poorly positioned to second-guess district courts’ determinations in this area.”

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra in a statement after the ruling accused the Trump administration of trying to “hide” documents.

“What is the Trump administration trying so hard to hide?” he asked.

“The administration owes the American people a real explanation for its decision to upend the lives of 800,000 Dreamers, stripping them of their ability to work and study, stirring fear, and threatening our economy,” Becerra said. “We’ll keep fighting in court for Dreamers, particularly the 1-in-4 DACA grantees who call California home.”

The Justice Department, meanwhile, celebrated the ruling in a statement.

“The Department of Homeland Security acted within its lawful authority in deciding to wind down DACA in an orderly manner, and the Justice Department believes the courts will ultimately agree,” spokesman Devin O’Malley told CNN.