Trump Rips Supreme Court Ruling That Saves DACA: 'Shotgun Blasts Into The Face'

The court ruled that the Trump administration's decision to end the program was "arbitrary" and "capricious."
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President Donald Trump on Thursday tore into a Supreme Court ruling that blocks his administration’s attempt to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA.

“These horrible & politically charged decisions coming out of the Supreme Court are shotgun blasts into the face of people that are proud to call themselves Republicans or Conservatives,” the president tweeted. “We need more Justices or we will lose our 2nd. Amendment & everything else. Vote Trump 2020!”

Later Thursday, Trump called the ruling “highly political” and said that he would ask for a “legal solution” on DACA.

“The Supreme Court is not willing to give us one, so now we have to start this process all over again,” he tweeted.

DACA, implemented under President Barack Obama, allows undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children, often called Dreamers, to live and work in the country without fear of deportation. There are nearly 650,000 Dreamers nationwide.

The court ruled 5-4, with Chief Justice John Roberts siding with the court’s four liberal justices, that the Trump administration wrongly ended DACA. The majority called the decision to terminate the program an “arbitrary” and “capricious” violation of the law.

Trump’s tweet appeared to also refer to the Supreme Court’s landmark decision Monday that protects LGBTQ employees from being discriminated against on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.

“Do you get the impression that the Supreme Court doesn’t like me?” Trump tweeted after the DACA ruling Thursday.

He also shared a tweet by conservative news website The Daily Caller that featured Justice Clarence Thomas’ dissenting opinion.

In his dissent, Thomas called the DACA ruling “an effort to avoid a politically controversial but legally correct decision.”

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Immigration rights advocates and congressional Democrats cheered the court’s decision.

“To every single Dreamer who has been living in fear since Trump took office: Today and everyday, we stand with you,” Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) tweeted. “YOU ARE HOME.”

In a series of tweets, Obama said he’s happy for Dreamers and their families, and called on voters to elect his former vice president, Joe Biden, in November.

“We may look different and come from everywhere, but what makes us American are our shared ideals,” Obama wrote. “We have to move forward and elect @JoeBiden and a Democratic Congress that does its job, protects DREAMers, and finally creates a system that’s truly worthy of this nation of immigrants once and for all.”

Trump on Thursday ranted against “Radical Left Democrats” and expressed his desire for new justices on the Supreme Court.

“The recent Supreme Court decisions, not only on DACA, Sanctuary Cities, Census, and others, tell you only one thing,” he tweeted, “we need NEW JUSTICES of the Supreme Court.”

He added that he would release a new list of conservative Supreme Court nominees by Sept. 1.

Supreme Court justices have lifetime tenure unless they resign, retire or are removed from office. When there’s a vacancy, the president nominates a new justice, who must then be confirmed by the Senate. Trump has appointed two justices to the court during his presidency: Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh.

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