Supreme Court cancels oral arguments in Title 42 case

The Supreme Court will not hear oral arguments in a case involving the Title 42 border policy that was scheduled to take place on March 1. 

The high court gave no reason Thursday for the removal of Arizona v. Mayorkas from its schedule. The case has not been dismissed.

However, the Biden administration indicated earlier this month that the matter would become moot on May 11, when the national COVID-19 pandemic emergency formally comes to an end. 

“The government announced for the first time its intent to allow that emergency to expire on May 11, 2023,” Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar and other Justice Department officials wrote to the court in a Feb. 7 filing. “Absent other relevant developments, the end of the public health emergency will (among other consequences) terminate the Title 42 orders and moot this case. The government has also recently announced its intent to adopt new Title 8 policies to address the situation at the border once the Title 42 orders end.”

The case brought by 19 Republican-led states turns on whether they can intervene in a lawsuit over the policy to try and keep it in place.

Title 42 allows law enforcement authorities to swiftly deport migrants apprehended while crossing the border illegally. It has been used to expel more than 2 million illegal immigrants since its implementation in March 2020.

Republicans and even some Democrats in border states have opposed the Biden administration’s attempts to end the policy, warning the US is not prepared for the expected influx of people who will attempt to cross as a result.

In December, the Supreme Court stayed a lower court order striking down the policy, allowing Title 42 to remain in place until it could hear the states’ challenge. 

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and several other Republican lawmakers traveled to the southern border on Thursday to visit the region for the first time since the GOP took control of the House in last year’s midterm elections.

The trip comes as illegal border crossings dropped 42% between December and January after Title 42 was expanded to prevent citizens of Mexico, Nicaragua, Cuba, Haiti, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Venezuela from entering the US over the southern border to claim asylum.