this means and how it might impact the fight over funding and immigration on capitol hill are: stephen legomsky, professor of law at washington university in st. louis and alan gomez, immigration reporter for "u.s.a. today" in miami. we welcome you both. professor legomsky, it's our understanding the judge in this case did not rule on the merits of what the president did but rather on a more narrow procedure in how this was carried out. explain that. >> yeah, that's correct, judy. under a statute called "the administrative procedure act," certain federal rules and policies have to go through a notice and comment process, as you were describing. the way it works is that the federal government issues a proposed version of this rule. the public has a chance to submit comments. the government evaluates those comments and then decides how best to proceed in light of those comments. the issue here is that there is an exception to that procedure. it's not required when all the government is doing is offering guidance as to how it proposes to exercise a discretionary power. the plaintiff states for the

professor stephen h. legomskys a university professor at washington university school of law, focusing on u.s. comparative and international immigration and is the founding director of the law school's whitney r. harris world law institute, a center for instruction and research in international and comparative law. he recently returned from a two-year leave of absence serving as chief counsel of u.s. citizenship and immigration services. he is the co-author of "immigration and refugee law and policy” which has been a required text at 176 law schools since its inception. the professor graduated first in his class at the university of san diego, school of law and clerked for the u.s. court of appeals for the ninth circuit. your written statements will be entered into the record in their entirety, and i ask that you each summarize your testimony in five minutes or less to help you stay within that time limit, there is a timing white on your table. when the light switches from green to yellow, you have one minute to c