AVN seems to think that Bush basically torpedoed the 2257 regs while recently talking about immigration reform:

And they show up and they put a Social Security card out there and it looks real. You know, our small business owners are not document checkers. These are people trying to get ahead, and it’s impossible … to really effect the enforcement of our laws if people are able to use forged documents.”

“Now, we’ve increased the amount of manpower there to hold people to account for hiring illegals,” the president continued, “but it is difficult to hold somebody, an employer to account if they’re putting false papers on…

I’m sure that you could bring up the President’s statements in a court case about 2257, but I doubt whether it’d be a compelling argument.