Tied Court Blocks Obama Immigration Plan

WASHINGTON An ideologically deadlocked Supreme Court dealt a severe blow Thursday to President Barack Obama’s immigration reform plan, underscoring the battle over a ninth justice and casting the November election as a referendum on how to deal with the more than 11 million people living in the country illegally.The 4-4 vote leaves in place a Texas federal judge’s order that has prevented Obama from granting deportation relief and work permits to more than 4 million immigrants who are parents of citizens or legal residents.The tie means it will be left to the next president, the next Congress and possibly a nine-member Supreme Court to address what is widely seen as a broken immigration system.The ruling does not mean the government will begin deporting people who might have been eligible for Obama’s program.