Arizona lawmakers react to Supreme Court’s block of Obama’s immigration action

PHOENIX — Arizona’s senators were in consensus on Thursday in applauding the Supreme Court’s decision to block President Barack Obama’s executive action on immigration.

“Well, the Supreme Court affirms that the president’s unilateral actions, which is characteristic of his lame duck term, won’t stand,” Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said.

On Thursday, the Supreme Court came to the 4-4 decision in United States v. Texas, an action which now keeps in place a lower court’s decision and blocks Obama from granting amnesty to 4 million illegal immigrants.

“We all agree that the system is broken, but it shouldn’t be done by the president of the United States who has bragged about the fact that, in his words, he has a phone and a pen,” McCain said of fixing the United State’s immigration system.

Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., was a little more forgiving.

“We have a big problem that the president attempted to solve,” Flake said. “The problem is this can’t be done by executive order, it needs to be done by the legislative branch.”

“It reaffirms that the president did overreach, there are limits to executive authority,” he said.

Congressman Paul Gosar, R-Prescott, applauded the outcome of the case as well.

“This is a win for Texas and for Arizona,” he said. “It was a good day, it was a good day.”

McCain however, looked to the future and the problems that still remain unsolved by the case.

“I would hope that we would resolve this issue one way or the other. There are solutions to it, including border security,” McCain said. “Till we do address the issue, it’s still going to be out there.”

Congressman Ruben Gallego, D-Phoenix, was instead optimistic about the future of the president’s immigration plan and found hope in the fact that the tied decision would allow the issue to be brought before the court again.

“I am confident that this case will again be brought to the Supreme Court and next time will be heard by a full panel of justices who will see though the political motives of this case and deliver a clear decision,” Gallego said in a release.

Congressman Raúl Grijalva, D-Tucson, echoed this hope.

“The silver lining is that a 4-4 tie is not precedent setting, and I hope that the Court revisits this vital issue with the urgency it deserves,” he said in a statement.