In a 5-4 vote on Tuesday, the Supreme Court left in place a Trump-era emergency public health order known as “Title 42.” The order allows officials to swiftly expel migrants caught at US borders.
Through Tuesday’s vote, the Supreme Court granted a request by several Republican-led states to place a lower court judge’s decision, terminating the order, on hold.
The states argued that lifting Title 42 would lead to an increase in border crossings, leading to an extra strain being put on state resources.
The Supreme Court agreed to hear the States’ arguments on the case in its February 2023 session.
Conservative Justice Gorsuch, among the dissenting justices, said while he didn’t “discount the States’ concerns,” Title 42 was put in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19, and “the current border crisis is not a Covid crisis.”