News reports indicate that President Obama is preparing to use his executive authority to provide work permits for up to five million people who are in the U.S. illegally, and to shield them from deportation. • Quote: "Under the present state of the law, the president has authority to defer deportation proceedings," says Christopher Schroeder, a professor of law and public policy at Duke University. "The Congress has enacted an immigration statute that grants discretionary authority for immigration officials or the president to fill in the gaps, to set priorities and to write the regulations that actually make the statute operative.""The president is faithfully executing the law that Congress has enacted. While I agree that this can make some people very uncomfortable, I just don’t see the argument for unconstitutionality."• Bio:Christopher Schroeder is a professor of law and public policy at Duke University. An expert on presidential powers and federal policymaking, Schroeder served as assistant attorney general for the Office of Legal Policy (OLP) in the Department of Justice from 2010-2012. He also served as acting assistant attorney general in the Office of Legal Counsel during the Clinton administration, where he advised the attorney general and the president on a broad range of legal issues, including separation of powers and matters of statutory interpretation and administrative law.https://law.duke.edu/fac/schroeder/• Archive video sample:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYp-9ocvm5E&list=TLQ78XrBo7PPA (2:30 mark)• For additional comment, contact Schroeder at:schroeder@law.duke.edu
