A federal appeals court on Monday sided with 26 states led by Texas GOP Gov. Greg Abbott, who argued that Obama had exceeded his constitutional power with his actions.
Democrats believe that drawing attention to the case will help their party at a time when Republican presidential candidates are running hard against the idea of granting legal status, or “amnesty,” to undocumented workers.
Many on the left see parallels to the 2012 election. In June of that year, Obama acted unilaterally to offer quasi-legal status and work authorization to young people brought to the U.S. illegally as children.
That program, known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), allowed Obama to draw a stark contrast with Republican nominee Mitt Romney, who said he would veto legislation that would help the same group of immigrants, known as the DREAM Act.
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“That was the largest mobilizing issue for Latinos in 2012 and President Obama really benefitted from that,” said Matt Barreto, a UCLA professor and co-founder of the polling firm Latino Decisions. “In some ways, we may see a replay of that no matter how the court decides.”