Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/19pdf/18-587_5ifl.pdf
Page Number: 36.0

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DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY v. 
REGENTS OF UNIV. OF CAL. 
Opinion of SOTOMAYOR, J. 

The majority rightly holds that the Department of Home-
land Security (DHS) violated the Administrative Procedure 
Act  in  rescinding  the  Deferred  Action  for  Childhood  Arri-
vals (DACA) program.  But the Court forecloses any chal-
lenge to the rescission under the Equal Protection Clause.
I believe that determination is unwarranted on the existing 
record and premature at this stage of the litigation.  I would 
instead  permit  respondents  to  develop  their  equal  protec-
tion claims on remand. 

Respondents’ equal protection challenges come to us in a
preliminary posture.  All that respondents needed to do at 
this  stage  of  the  litigation  was  state  sufficient  facts  that
would “allo[w a] court to draw the reasonable inference that 
[a] defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged.”  Ashcroft 
v. Iqbal, 556 U. S. 662, 678 (2009).  The three courts to eval-
uate  respondents’  pleadings  below  held  that  they  cleared 
this modest threshold.  908 F. 3d 476, 518–520 (CA9 2018) 
(affirming the District Court’s denial of the Government’s 
motion to dismiss); see also Batalla Vidal v. Nielsen, 291 F. 
Supp. 3d 260, 274 (EDNY 2018). 

I too would permit respondents’ claims to proceed on re-
mand.  The  complaints  each  set  forth  particularized  facts 
that plausibly allege discriminatory animus.  The plurality 
disagrees, reasoning that “[n]one of these points, either sin-
gly  or  in  concert,  establishes  a  plausible  equal  protection 
claim.”  Ante, at 27.  But it reaches that conclusion by dis-
counting some allegations altogether and by narrowly view-
ing the rest.

First, the plurality dismisses the statements that Presi-
dent Trump made both before and after he assumed office.
The  Batalla  Vidal  complaints  catalog  then-candidate 
Trump’s declarations that Mexican immigrants are “people 
that have lots of problems,” “the bad ones,” and “criminals, 
drug dealers, [and] rapists.”  291 F. Supp. 3d, at 276 (inter-
nal quotation marks omitted).  The Regents complaints ad-