The Biden administration filed its response Tuesday to Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts’ order temporarily keeping the controversial Title 42 health policy in place after 19 GOP-led states filed an “eleventh hour” emergency appeal.
In the 44-page filing, Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar argued that the states wrongly wished to keep the policy in place “as a makeshift immigration-control measure.”
“The government recognizes that the end of the Title 42 orders will likely lead to disruption and a temporary increase in unlawful border crossings,” Prelogar wrote. “The government in no way seeks to minimize the seriousness of that problem.
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“But the solution to that immigration problem cannot be to extend indefinitely a public-health measure that all now acknowledge has outlived its public-health justification.”
Roberts had given the Biden administration until 5 p.m. to respond to the states after he temporarily stayed a federal court ruling from last month that ordered the program’s end on Dec. 21.
The chief justice can now either deny the states’ application on his own, or — more likely — refer the matter to the full court for consideration.
This is a developing story
