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The Biden administration told the Supreme Court on Tuesday that its intention to let the coronavirus public health emergency expire in May would advance the ongoing case over the Trump-era border ban.
“Absent other relevant developments, the termination of the public health emergency (among other consequences) would terminate the Title 42 orders and terminate this case. The government recently filed for Title 42 orders. has also announced its intention to adopt new Title 8 policies to address the situation at the border after termination,” Solicitor General Elizabeth Preluger wrote in a filing with the high court.
The Trump administration invoked Title 42 at the start of the coronavirus pandemic. The Public Health Authority allows border officials to turn back migrants arriving at the US-Mexico border in the name of preventing Covid-19.
Title 42 has been the subject of ongoing litigation amid efforts to repeal the authority.
Last year, Republican-led states, which had already filed suit in a separate court, filed a motion to intervene in a lawsuit, arguing that the program should be left in place. The Supreme Court agreed to leave the program in effect and said it would hear arguments on March 1 about whether GOP-led states could intervene. The administration’s brief was filed before those scheduled arguments, which could potentially be affected.
“The expected end of the public health emergency on May 11, and the consequent expiration of the operative Title 42 order, would render this case moot: because the Title 42 order would have ‘expired by its own terms.’ , the suit’s findings are only tentative. The filing states that the relief will ‘no longer present a “live case or controversy.”
“In that event, the government will ask the appellate court to vacate the judgment of the district court and remand with directions to remand the private respondents’ case,” it continued.
This story is breaking and will be updated.
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