WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. John Thune, chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, issued the following statement after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision that President Obama’s executive amnesty violates the law:

“Today’s ruling makes clear what Senate Republicans have been saying all along,” said Thune. “Congress is a coequal branch of the federal government, and just because President Obama didn’t get his way in the House and Senate doesn’t mean he just gets to go it alone. The president has bypassed Congress before in an attempt to cement his paper-thin legacy, and I’m glad that in this case – as in others before it – the Constitution has prevailed. At a time of increased threats from abroad, the administration should be focused on strengthening our borders and fixing our immigration system, not circumventing Congress with illegal executive orders.”

In November 2015, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court decision that blocked the president’s illegal executive amnesty. The Supreme Court agreed to hear the case earlier this year.