Supreme Court Rejects Bid to Restore Deportation Pauses

The Supreme Court on October 27, 2026, denied in a one-sentence unsigned order without explanation an emergency request in Baltimore v. Texas, 26a500, leaving intact a June 22, 2026 consent judgment that vacated nationwide a 2024 Biden regulation on administrative closure, which lets immigration judges pause some deportation cases without dismissing them. That day Texas sued the Justice Department, the DOJ agreed the rule was unlawful, and Judge Reed O'Connor in Wichita Falls signed the judgment. Baltimore, Columbus, New Haven and Centro Legal de la Raza sought to intervene; O'Connor denied them for lack of standing. They appealed to the 5th Circuit and asked the justices to restore the rule meantime. The challengers said a significant regulation "was erased over the course of a single day, without meaningful judicial review, public participation, or adherence to the APA's rulemaking requirements," calling it "egregious collusion." Solicitor D. John Sauer said they were trying "to improperly leverage a clear-cut dispute over intervention into a far-reaching attack on the merits of a consent judgment" and that "This court should not allow applicants to put the cart before the horse." Texas and the DOJ say the rule conflicts with federal immigration law. Government statistics show the practice has benefited about 360,000 migrants since 1990. The merits remain unresolved on appeal.