Abstract
An enduring St. Louis University School of Law tradition, the Childress Memorial Lecture is devoted to “highlighting a provocative and timely area of law.” Discussion of immigration law and its enforcement by the Trump administration falls squarely into the category of provocative and timely. My lecture today analyzes the Supreme Court’s responses to the Trump administration’s immigration actions in the early months of his second term. Those responses no doubt provide an idea about the Court’s future responses to the administration’s immigration actions.
Immigration has been a divisive, often explosive political issue throughout U.S. history. The law as it has evolved is complex and involves many policy trade-offs. The movement of people across borders implicates political, economic, and social issues of great public concern. In turn, our nation’s response to immigrants reveals much about who we are as a nation, both as an ideal and as a practical matter. The contemporary moment aptly demonstrates both the complexity and political explosiveness of immigration law and policy.
Recommended Citation
Kevin R. Johnson,
Richard J. Childress Memorial Lecture: Immigration and the Supreme Court in the Early Days of the Second Trump Administration,
70
St. Louis U. L.J.
(2026).
Available at:
https://scholarship.law.slu.edu/lj/vol70/iss4/4