Regents of the University of California v. United States Department of Homeland Security
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
908 F.3d 476 (2018)
In 2012, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) (defendant) created DACA, letting certain noncitizens who arrived as children apply for deferred deportation and work authorization. The Trump administration moved to rescind DACA, asserting it was unlawful from the start. States, organizations, and DACA recipients (plaintiffs) sued, arguing the rescission was arbitrary and capricious and violated substantive due process and equal protection; the government argued courts could not review its legal conclusion that DACA was unlawful. The district court granted a preliminary injunction, allowed a due-process claim based on recipients' reliance on DACA renewals to proceed, and found the complaint plausibly alleged an equal-protection violation.
Whether rescinding DACA on the stated ground that it was unlawful, and using recipients' application information to deport them, violated the law, substantive due process, and equal protection.