--- title: Obama Asks Supreme Court to Revisit Immigration Case description: The Obama administration has asked the Supreme Court to revisit a case in the hopes of reviving its plan to protect undocumented immigrants canonical: https://time.com/4411814/supreme-court-obama-immigration-case/ author: Sarah Begley article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-07-18T22:43:42.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T23:20:38.240Z article:section: Politics og:title: Obama Administration Asks Supreme Court to Revisit Immigration Case og:description: The court was split on the issue og:url: https://time.com/4411814/supreme-court-obama-immigration-case/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcd8a12468b9c2f42/69889c6bcf40a8d118c44098/obama_immigration_supreme_court.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: President Obama Speaks On Recent Supreme Court Rulings og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Obama Administration Asks Supreme Court to Revisit Immigration Case twitter:description: The court was split on the issue twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcd8a12468b9c2f42/69889c6bcf40a8d118c44098/obama_immigration_supreme_court.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Obama Administration Asks Supreme Court to Revisit Immigration Case by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Jul 18, 2016 10:43 PM UTC  President Barack Obama discusses the Supreme Court ruling on immigration at the White House, June 23, 2016\. The Administration has asked the Supreme Court to revisit the case. President Barack Obama discusses the Supreme Court ruling on immigration at the White House, June 23, 2016\. The Administration has asked the Supreme Court to revisit the case.Mark Wilson—Getty Images by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Jul 18, 2016 10:43 PM UTC The Obama administration has asked the [Supreme Court](http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-court-immigration-idUSKCN0ZY2LG?feedType=RSS&feedName=politicsNews&utm%5Fsource=Twitter&utm%5Fmedium=Social) to revisit a landmark immigration case in the hopes of reviving its plan to protect up to 4 million undocumented immigrants from deportation. The plan would protect [undocumented immigrants](http://time.com/4380019/president-obama-supreme-court-immigration-decision/) without criminal records who have lived in the U.S. since at least 2010 and have children who are either American citizens or lawful permanent residents, Reuters reports. It was initially blocked in a lower court, and the Supreme Court, currently down a member, was split four-to-four on the issue in June. Since the hearing resulted in a draw, the lower court’s ruling held. Now, the Justice Department says the Supreme Court should rehear the case when it’s back up to nine members — though that could take a long time to reach, since the Senate is unlikely to vote on Obama’s nominee, appeals court judge [Merrick Garland](http://time.com/4266396/supreme-court-merrick-garland-nomination-history/). If the Supreme Court were to rehear the case, which it rarely does, that means it would be unlikely to proceed until after Obama leaves office in January. \[[Reuters](http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-court-immigration-idUSKCN0ZY2LG?feedType=RSS&feedName=politicsNews&utm%5Fsource=Twitter&utm%5Fmedium=Social)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4411814/supreme-court-obama-immigration-case/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4411814/supreme-court-obama-immigration-case/"},"headline":"Obama Administration Asks Supreme Court to Revisit Immigration Case","datePublished":"2016-07-18T22:43:42.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T23:20:38.240Z","description":"The court was split on the issue","url":"https://time.com/4411814/supreme-court-obama-immigration-case/","keywords":["Supreme Court"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcd8a12468b9c2f42/69889c6bcf40a8d118c44098/obama_immigration_supreme_court.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcd8a12468b9c2f42/69889c6bcf40a8d118c44098/obama_immigration_supreme_court.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Obama Speaks On Recent Supreme Court Rulings","caption":"President Obama Speaks On Recent Supreme Court Rulings","creditText":"Mark Wilson—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/supreme-court/","name":"Supreme Court"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4411814/supreme-court-obama-immigration-case/","name":"Obama Administration Asks Supreme Court to Revisit Immigration Case"}}]}] ```