The branches may act only according to the powers the Constitution
grants them, with the remaining powers and rights reserved to the
States and ultimately to the people. With respect to the power of the executive branch, Judge Gorsuch has
a strong record of reining in actions which violate the Constitution
and the
law. Perhaps the best example is his opinion in the immigration case
Gutierrez-Brizuela v. Lynch. There, the Attorney General attempted to
apply a new agency rule retroactively prohibiting a noncitizen from
receiving relief under Federal immigration law. Writing for the Tenth
Circuit, Judge Gorsuch ruled that such action exceeded the executive's
power to enforce the law. In a separate opinion, he noted that there is an elephant in the
room: the so-called Chevron deference doctrine, which requires courts
to defer to Federal agency interpretations of the law we pass.
Keywords matched
immigration noncitizen