ABC News broke in Thursday morning with an enthusiastic report hailing the Supreme Court for striking down the Trump administration’s bid to end President Obama's DACA program. Coming just days after the court’s pro-LGBT ruling, the ABC journalists reveled in Chief Justice John Roberts “siding with the liberals” again, but also giving a “body blow” to President Trump.
Senior national correspondent Terry Moran began his report touting Roberts siding with the liberal justices:
In a stunning case, Chief Justice John Roberts writing with the liberals, found that President Trump's decision to end the DACA program, that's deferred action for childhood arrivals, protecting the dreamers, that President Trump and his administration acted unlawfully when they ended the DACA program.
Meanwhile, correspondent Devin Dwyer touted the decision as a rebuke against the Trump administration: “Terry the court sent an earthquake through this country on the issue of immigration, also sending a very clear message that this court is not a rubber stamp for Donald Trump.” Moran echoed that sentiment, mocking the Supreme Court’s “body blow” to President Trump.
Moran and White House correspondent Cecilia Vega also managed to tie the court’s decision to current events, characterizing it as a win in the fight over coronavirus, and “important” for today’s “race relations:”
MORAN: The implications of this cannot be overstated. These are hundreds of thousands of people brought here as youngsters. They are in their workplaces, in the armed forces all across our country, and this is major news for them....Cecilia, you were speaking earlier today on how important this is for our country.
CECILIA VEGA: This is not just a Latino issue, Terry. This is not just an immigration issue. This is an issue that impacts every facet of our country, particularly the biggest headlines that we are living with right now from race relations---these hundreds of thousands of people, black and brown people we have seen marching in the streets--- to the pandemic we are living under. 27,000 DACA recipients are working on the front lines of our healthcare system today as we speak.
Just an hour later on The View, ABC's chief global affairs correspondent Martha Raddatz also praised the Supreme Court’s decision, calling it a “huge blow” to Trump’s campaign because “immigration is such a big deal to him,” (as if it isn’t for his voters?).
Over on NBC, correspondent Peter Alexander also touted this as "another blow to the White House."
While the media cheers this setback for the Trump administration, they did everything in their power to aid President Obama when he announced DACA in 2012, with one-sided reports and sob stories of people who could be deported.
Read the transcript, below:
ABC News Special Report
6/18/2020
10:09:41AM-10:13:47AM
TERRY MORAN: In a stunning case, Chief Justice John Roberts writing with the liberals, found that President Trump's decision to end the DACA program, that's deferred action for childhood arrivals, protecting the dreamers, that President Trump and his administration acted unlawfully when they ended the DACA program. This opinion centered on whether or not the law had been followed to the letter of it, and that's something that Chief Justice John Roberts is very much a stickler for. He found that the original reasons that the Trump administration put forward for ending DACA were not done in accordance with the administration procedure act. That is the federal law that governs how the government should do these things, and the bottom line is the Supreme Court, Chief Justice John Roberts said the Trump administration acted unlawfully when it ended DACA. The implications of this cannot be overstated. These are hundreds of thousands of people brought here as youngsters. They are in their workplaces, in the armed forces all across our country, and this is major news for them. I want to go to Devin Dwyer who covers the Supreme Court for us. Devin, just before we came on the air, you said, watch Chief Justice John Roberts. What did the court do?
DEVIN DWYER: Terry the court sent an earthquake through this country on the issue of immigration, also sending a very clear message that this court is not a rubber stamp for Donald Trump. Chief justice Roberts wrote here there's no question the president had the power to end DACA, be you it's how he did it. As you said, he did not give an adequate reason explanation, enough time for this decision to be made, and so even though this basically kicks the can for those dreamers, it doesn't impose a permanent solution to their status. The court today saying that program will stand for now as long as the administration doesn't come up with another reason.
TERRY MORAN: That's right. That's important to emphasize. The court says the Trump administration or any administration can end DACA, but they just didn't do it right. I want to go to Cecilia Vega on the impact of this. You were speaking earlier today on how important this is for our country.
CECILIA VEGA: This is not just a Latino issue, Terry. This is not just an immigration issue. This is an issue that impacts every facet of our country, particularly the biggest headlines that we are living with right now from race relations. These hundreds of thousands of people, black and brown people we have seen marching in the streets to the pandemic we are living under. 27,000 DACA recipients are working on the front lines of our healthcare system today as we speak. Overwhelming support in this country, 86% believe that these dreamers should have protections, and we should say just to give you a little bit more about who these people are, these are people who came to this country as young children with their parents, whose parents immigrated illegally. They were born in other countries. We're talking about people, many of them who don't speak the languages of the countries where they were born. They have been to school in this country. This is a program that allowed them to come out of the shadows, to pay taxes, to work, to be huge contributors to this -- to this economy, and to this country, and this ruling today will give them a little bit of a sigh of relief. This is a group that has been torn and twisted in the wind with politics coming from this white house, a president who has really campaigned on of course, that harsh immigration rhetoric and threatened to end DACA immediately after he took office. Yet then he said nice words about them saying that he would make a deal to keep these DACA recipients in this country. Today We are still waiting to hear what the president has to say about this ruling.
TERRY MORAN: This is another body blow really to President Trump. Thanks Cecilia. From the supreme court, the bottom line, a 5-4 opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts joining the liberals saying that the Trump administration acted unlawfully when it ended the DACA program established by President Obama to protect the dreamers. We'll have much more on this throughout the day. This is something that affects not just the Latino community as Cecilia Vega pointed out, but our health care systems, our military, and so many other ways. A huge decision out of the Supreme Court. Stay with ABC News. Thanks for watching. I’m Terry Moran.
