Princeton sues government over DACA, but expert doubts case is strong

Princeton University, a Princeton senior and the Microsoft Corp. filed a lawsuit in federal court Friday against the Trump administration for rescinding the executive order that created the DACA program. The plaintiffs claimed the administration’s actions violated their rights to due process and equal protection.A Princeton professor of constitutional theory told the University Press Club that Princeton was likely on shaky legal ground.“The general rule in constitutional law is that a president has complete discretion to issue executive orders and to rescind executive orders from previous presidents,” said Stanley Katz, a professor in the Woodrow Wilson School and the editor of the Oxford International Encyclopedia of Legal History.Katz noted that he had not had time to read the exact text of the lawsuit, so he could provide a general analysis of the legality of the Trump administration’s actions, but not a detailed analysis of the plaintiffs’ specific arguments.DACA, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, is a policy that grants work permits and protection from deportation to undocumented immigrants who came to the United States before the age of 16 and did not have a criminal record. President Barack Obama started the policy in 2012 through executive action.President Donald Trump announced on September 5 that he was rescinding the executive action that created DACA, although he urged Congress to pass DACA as a law and instituted a six-month waiting period before he would end the program.According to the lawsuit, the Trump administration’s actions violated the Fifth Amendment rights to due process and equal protection of the University, Microsoft and Maria de la Cruz Perales Sanchez, the Princeton senior who is a plaintiff in the suit.“The Due Process Clause imposes limits on federal government decisions that deprive individuals of liberty or interests protected by the Fifth Amendment,” the lawsuit asserts. “Rescission will, without due process of law, deprive the University of several interests cognizable under the Constitution.”The plaintiffs also argued that the Trump administration broke the Administrative Procedure Act, a federal law that governs how the executive branch makes regulations.“Defendants’ disregard for the reasonable reliance of Perales Sanchez and hundreds of thousands of other vulnerable young people, and others affected by DACA’s rescission is the hallmark of arbitrary and capricious action and an abuse of discretion,” the lawsuit asserts.Princeton and Microsoft have a legal interest in the matter that allows them to be plaintiffs in the suit because of the investments they have made in DACA recipients, the lawsuit asserted. Princeton has enrolled at least 21 DACA recipients, and at least 45 are employed at Microsoft and its subsidiaries.“As a result of the rescission of the program, Princeton will suffer the loss of critical members of its community,” the lawsuit asserted. “Similarly, Microsoft will lose employees who fill critical positions in the company’s workforce and in whom the company has invested.”University President Christopher Eisgruber has repeatedly spoken in favor of preserving DACA since Trump’s election. At other times, however, Eisgruber has said that the University should remove itself from political discussions to protect the integrity of its academic mission.“I must be cautious about signing petitions and especially about announcing any view as the official position of the University,” Eisgruber wrote in the Daily Princetonian in June about the debate over the Paris Climate Accords and climate change. “There have been and will be other issues where I have more latitude to speak as president.”Microsoft’s President and Chief Legal Officer, Brad Smith, is a Princeton graduate. It is unclear if that connection inspired Princeton and Microsoft to file a joint lawsuit.“We filed together because this is an issue that both Princeton and Microsoft have cared deeply about,” University Vice President for Communications Dan Day wrote in an email. “Filing together helps make the point that rescission of the DACA program would have harmful effects on both universities and companies.”Day did not say whether the University has any other significant connection or partnership with Microsoft.Princeton Advocates for Justice, a coalition of mostly progressive student groups on Princeton’s campus that has lobbied the University to more vocally support DACA, responded positively to the lawsuit.“PAJ applauds the University’s lawsuit and calls on Princetonians to stand up for DACA recipients and all undocumented people in the Princeton community and beyond,” said Nicholas Wu, the president of Princeton Advocates for Justice.The lawsuit was announced in a statement on Princeton’s website that was posted Friday afternoon. Princeton posted links to the announcement on its Instagram, Facebook and Twitter pages.The plaintiffs are represented by the Chicago-based law firm Jenner & Block. The firm also filed an amicus brief Wednesday in favor of the University of California’s lawsuit against the Trump administration’s DACA repeal.