False claim SCOTUS ruled Texas SB4 immigration law is constitutional in May 2024 | Fact check
The claim: The Supreme Court ruled Texas’ Senate Bill 4 is constitutional in May 2024
A May 28 Instagram post (direct link, archive link) claims the nation’s highest court made a major decision on a controversial Texas immigration law in May 2024.
“Just Announced: The Supreme Court ruled today that Texas SB-4 law is constitutional which grants Txs (sic) the right to detain, arrest, and expel anyone crossing the Texas border illegally,” reads the post.
It received more than 30,000 likes in a week. Other versions of the claim spread widely on Instagram and X, formerly Twitter.
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Our rating: False
The Supreme Court issued an opinion on the legislation in March that explicitly said it was not ruling on whether the law was constitutional. It did, however, allow the law to go into effect until a lower appellate court decided whether to block it.
Law was only enforceable for 'very brief moment'
The social media claim is “not based in any reality,” said University of Texas Law School professor Denise Gilman, who is also co-director of the school’s Immigration Clinic.
There are several elements of Senate Bill 4, but Gilman said its most significant impact would be making entering Texas illegally a state-level crime, in addition to it being a federal immigration crime, and creating a “state-level deportation scheme” that allows Texas police to question and arrest people on suspicion of entering the country illegally.
The legislation passed in November 2023, and Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed it into law the following month. The federal government and advocacy groups, as well as El Paso County, sued the state alleging the law was unconstitutional.
The federal government has been the "single voice on immigration issues" since the late 1800s, said professor Daniel Morales of the University of Houston Law Center. That was reinforced in the Supreme Court's 2012 ruling on Arizona v. U.S., which similarly sought to create state-level immigration crimes, he said.
U.S. District Judge David Ezra issued an order in late February that blocked Senate Bill 4 from going into effect on March 5 while litigation continued. Ezra echoed federal prosecutors' concerns over whether the law was constitutional.
The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed Ezra's ruling, at which point the Biden administration appealed to the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court ruled on March 19 that the Texas law could go into effect, but it pointed to the administrative process of the challenge rather than the question of constitutionality. Justice Sonia Sotomayor noted in her dissent that the “court today expresses no view on whether Texas’s law is constitutional.”
Gilman said the ruling was simply a statement that the 5th Circuit court needed to make a decision one way or the other.
The 5th Circuit did just that mere hours after the Supreme Court’s ruling, putting the law on hold yet again until it makes a determination on whether it is constitutional.
The Supreme Court has taken “absolutely no new action” on the legislation since that March 19 ruling, Gilman said.
Fact check: False claim migrants in the US illegally need passports for air or land travel
That means the law could only have been enforced for a “very, very brief moment,” Gilman said, adding that she is unaware of any arrests or deportations that happened under the law during those few hours.
“All we’re fighting about is who wins in the interim, which is what makes the tweets so deeply incorrect,” Morales said.
USA TODAY reached out to users who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
Our fact-check sources:
Daniel Morales, June 5, Phone call with USA TODAY
Denise Gilman, June 4, Phone call with USA TODAY
Texas Tribune, April 4, Texas, Biden administration take their battle over new immigration law to federal appeals court
Texas Tribune, March 20, Texas immigration law: Here's what to know about SB 4
Texas Tribune, March 19, Supreme Court permits Texas police to arrest people who illegally cross the border as the SB 4 legal clash continues
USA TODAY, March 20, Federal appeals court order puts controversial Texas immigration law back on hold
SCOTUSblog, March 19, Supreme Court allows Texas to enforce state deportation law
Supreme Court, March 19, United States v. Texas, et al., On Application to Vacate Stay
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Legal battles continue over Texas Senate Bill 4 | Fact check
