BREAKING: Federal judge finds Obama amnesty is unconstitutional

Ruling doesn’t immediately overturn policy

President Barack Obama speaks to troops at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J., Monday, Dec. 15, 2014. President Barack Obama says every American who has served in Afghanistan should be proud of what they’ve accomplished. Obama is observing the end of combat ... more >

By Stephen Dinan - The Washington Times - Updated: 2:15 p.m. on Tuesday, December 16, 2014

A federal judge has found parts of President Obama’s new deportation amnesty to be unconstitutional, issuing a scathing memo Tuesday accusing him of usurping Congress’s power to make laws, and dismantling most of the White House’s legal reasoning for circumventing Congress.

Judge Arthur J. Schwab, sitting in the western district of Pennsylvania, said presidents do have powers to use discretion in deciding how to enforce the law, but said Mr. Obama’s new policy goes well beyond that, setting up a full system for granting legal protections to broad groups of individuals.

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SEE ALSO: Amnesty fight: Obama admin tells courts they’re powerless to stop executive order

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The judge also said the policy allows illegal immigrants “to obtain substantive rights.”

The memo came as part of a deportation case before the judge, and Judge Schwab’s order does not invalidate the president’s policies. But it serves as a warning shot as other direct challenges to the new amnesty begin to make their way through the courts.

A federal judge in Washington will hear one of those challenges in oral arguments next week, and a similar case is proceeding in Texas.

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SEE ALSO: Obama amnesty in jeopardy with Bush judicial appointee hearing states’ challenge

Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/dec/16/judge-finds-obama-amnesty-unconstitutional/#ixzz3M5iFqQDJ 
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Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/dec/16/judge-finds-obama-amnesty-unconstitutional/#ixzz3M5i06U3E 
Follow us: @washtimes on Twitter