President Obama attacked Republicans for "standing in the way of progress" after the Supreme Court ruled on Thursday, June 23, not to lift a lower court's injunction against the executive actions he took on immigration that stood to benefit as many as 5 million families.
In the immediate aftermath of the decision, Democrats vowed to turn the issue into an Election Day litmus test that could have implications all the way up to the White House.

"Here's the bottom line: We've got a very real choice that America faces right now," a frustrated Obama told reporters during a hastily arranged press conference held in the White House briefing room. "We've got a choice about who we're going to be as a country, what we want to teach our kids, and how we want to be represented in Congress and in the White House."

High Court Deadlocked on Issue

Operating with just eight members ever since the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, the high court deadlocked 4-4 in the U.S. vs. Texas case, effectively rendering a lower court's earlier ruling on the issue the law of the land.

Back in 2014, the Obama administration announced the enactment of the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans (DAPA), which the president insisted was an earnest effort to reform the immigration system after the Republican led House repeatedly failed to take action.

GOP leaders immediately branded the action as unlawful and a blatant attempt to circumvent the will of lawmakers.

GOP Leaders Applaud Verdict

"Today, the Supreme Court made the right call," House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said in a statement. "When Congress doesn't give the President what he wants, the President doesn't all [of] the sudden gain the right to legislate all by himself."

Beyond defending his actions as an extension of a smaller-scale version of a plan that began in 2012 with the issuing of work permits to immigrants brought to the country illegally as children, the president also blasted Republicans for stalling confirmation hearings for Merrick Garland, the man he nominated to replace Scalia on the high court.

The president also blasted Republicans of using the issue of immigration to "scare people" by routinely using "words like "amnesty."

 He later added, "Leaving a broken system that way is not a solution. That's the real amnesty."

Meanwhile, presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton posted messages on Twitter in both English and Spanish where she characterized the ruling as "heartbreaking" because it "could tear apart 5 million families."

Clinton has long supported the president's actions on the issue.

On the republican side, presumptive nominee Donald Trump claimed the ruling "blocked one of the most unconstitutional actions ever undertaken by a President."

Trump is on record in planning to deport millions of immigrants if he is elected.

In all, 26 states sued the Obama administration over the DAPA program, making the argument that the administration changed federal regulations without proper notice and that the new immigration laws would saddle states with additional costs in the form of driver's licenses for immigrants.