SCOTUS: We'll Review Key Obama Immigration Case

The Supreme Court has agreed to an election-year review of President Barack Obama's executive orders to allow up to 5 million immigrants to "come out of the shadows" and work legally in the United States. Justices said Tuesday they will consider undoing lower court rulings that blocked the plan from taking effect in the midst of a presidential campaign already roiled by the issue. The case, which Reuters frames as "one of the most important the Supreme Court will decide this term," will probably be argued in April and decided by late June, about a month before both parties' presidential nominating conventions.

The immigrants who would benefit from the administration's plan are mainly the parents of US citizens and lawful permanent residents. Texas is leading 26 states in challenging the immigration plan, which is just one of the issues Republicans have accused Obama of usurping via executive orders when an initiative has been stuck in Congress, Reuters notes; Republicans have also been riled by his actions on gun control and ObamaCare. If the court sides with the current administration, Obama would have until he leaves office in January 2017 to implement the immigration plan. The next president would then decide whether to keep it in place, per Reuters. (More US Supreme Court stories.)