Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/19pdf/18-587_5ifl.pdf
Page Number: 10

Cite as:  591 U. S. ____ (2020) 

5 

Opinion of the Court 

authorization, 809 F. 3d, at 179–181, 186 (internal quota-
tion marks omitted).  Judge King dissented. 

This  Court  affirmed  the  Fifth  Circuit’s  judgment  by  an
equally divided vote, which meant that no opinion was is-
sued.  United States v. Texas, 579 U. S. ___ (2016) (per cu-
riam).  For  the  next  year,  litigation  over  DAPA  and  the
DACA  expansion  continued  in  the  Southern  District  of 
Texas,  while  implementation  of  those  policies  remained
enjoined.

Then,  in  June  2017,  following  a  change  in  Presidential 
administrations, DHS rescinded the DAPA Memorandum. 
In explaining that decision, DHS cited the preliminary in-
junction  and  ongoing  litigation  in  Texas,  the  fact  that 
DAPA had never taken effect, and the new administration’s 
immigration enforcement priorities.

Three  months  later,  in  September  2017,  Attorney
General Jefferson B. Sessions III sent a letter to Acting Sec-
retary  of  Homeland  Security  Elaine  C.  Duke,  “advis[ing]” 
that DHS “should rescind” DACA as well.  App. 877.  Citing
the Fifth Circuit’s opinion and this Court’s equally divided 
affirmance,  the  Attorney  General  concluded  that  DACA
shared  the  “same  legal  . . .  defects  that  the  courts  recog-
nized as to DAPA” and was “likely” to meet a similar fate. 
Id., at 878.  “In light of the costs and burdens” that a rescis-
sion would “impose[ ] on DHS,” the Attorney General urged 
DHS  to  “consider  an  orderly  and  efficient  wind-down 
process.”  Ibid. 

The next day, Duke acted on the Attorney General’s ad-
vice.  In her decision memorandum, Duke summarized the 
history of the DACA and DAPA programs, the Fifth Circuit
opinion and ensuing affirmance, and the contents of the At-
torney General’s letter.  App. to Pet. for Cert. 111a–117a. 
“Taking  into  consideration  the  Supreme  Court’s  and  the
Fifth  Circuit’s  rulings”  and  the  “letter  from  the  Attorney
General,” she concluded that the “DACA program should be 
terminated.”  Id., at 117a.