The US Supreme Court appeared closely divided Monday as it weighed President Barack Obama's plan to shield nearly half of the nation's 11 million undocumented immigrants from deportation. If the eight justices deadlock in their ruling, due by late June, it will keep intact a lower court block on the plan, dealing a bruising defeat to Obama during his last year in office and pushing the issue to the next president.
Hundreds of immigrant rights activists massed outside in the blazing sunshine as the high-profile hearing got underway, brandishing heart-shaped signs reading "Keep families together" and "Si se puede" - putting a Spanish twist on Obama's 2008 campaign slogan "Yes We Can." Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Anthony Kennedy, two conservatives whose support is critical in this case, sparred repeatedly with the Obama administration's attorney during an extended 90-minute session of oral arguments. At stake is a series of executive actions the president took in November 2014 to bypass a Republican-held Congress with which he was unable to enact a promised reform of America's immigration system.