THE SOCIAL CONTEXT OF THE LAW: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF RELIANCE INTERESTS IN THE DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY V. REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA

In 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on the Department of Homeland Security v. Regents of the University of California case. The case concerned the rescission of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (“DACA”) policy, an issue that sparked the interest of a wide range of amicus curiae, including those in support of the policy. Using Critical Race Theory (“CRT”) and UndocuCrit Theory in an integrated framework, this Article interrogates the social context amici presented in their amicus briefs to see what we could learn about DACA from the perspective of amici. This Article demonstrates that amici highlighted the importance and impact of the policy to all sectors of society, but, in doing so, largely emphasized the substantial gains and potential losses to the country and U.S. citizens, de-centering DACA recipients. The social context did not fully humanize recipients before the Court. Building upon this analysis, this Article discusses the implications for legal frameworks with social context, institutional/disciplinary norms, and comprehensive immigration reform.