Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/21pdf/21-954_7l48.pdf
Page Number: 37

4 

BIDEN v. TEXAS 

ALITO, J., dissenting 

months,” rather than leaving asylum applicants “in limbo
for years.”  Id., at 190. 

Hours after his inauguration on January 20, 2021, Pres-
ident  Biden  issued  an  Executive  Order  suspending  MPP, 
and the effects on the border were immediate.  According to
the  Government’s  own  data,  border  “encounters  jump[ed]
from  75,000  in  January  2021,”  when  MPP  was  first  sus-
pended, to about “173,000 in April 2021.”  554 F. Supp. 3d, 
at 837. 

Two States, Texas and Missouri, brought suit under the
Administrative Procedure Act (APA) in April 2021, alleging 
that suspending MPP was arbitrary and capricious and vi-
olated the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).  The Dis-
trict Court ordered the Government to file the administra-
tive  record  for  the  January  suspension,  and  on  May  31,
2021, the Government filed a three-line suspension memo-
randum as the entire administrative record.  See id., at 856, 
n. 16.  The next day, in a 7-page memo issued by the Secre-
tary, DHS terminated the already-suspended program.

The  States  amended  their  complaint  to  challenge  the
June termination decision on largely the same grounds that
they had advanced with respect to the January suspension. 
After a consolidated preliminary injunction hearing and a
trial  on  the  merits  under  Federal  Rule  of  Civil  Procedure 
65(a)(2), the District Court vacated the Government’s deci-
sion to rescind MPP and enjoined the Secretary to continue
to implement that policy “in good faith” until all the aliens
in  question  could  be  detained  or  lawfully  paroled.    Id.,  at 
857.  The Government sought a stay of this order, but the 
United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, while
expediting  the  Government’s  appeal,  refused  to  issue  a 
stay.  10 F. 4th 538, 543–561 (2021) (per curiam).  The Gov-
ernment  then  sought  a  stay  in  this  Court,  but  we  denied 
that application.  594 U. S. ___ (2021). 

On September 29, 2021, while briefing in the Court of Ap-
peals  was  underway,  DHS  announced  that  it  intended  to