A federal appeals court Friday rejected a request by government lawyers that the court expedite
its consideration of whether to lift a hold on Obama's 2014 immigration actions. Josh Gerstein
has the details:
The Justice Department asked the New Orleans-based 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals Thursday to shorten the time for states challenging Obama's immigration moves. Federal government lawyers asked that the states, led by Texas, have only seven days to respond. The states asked the court to allow the normal 10-day period to answer a stay request.
In an order issued before 8 A.M. Central Time Friday, the 5th Circuit sided with Texas and the other challengers on the timing issue, giving them until March 23 to weigh in.
As Gerstein notes, federal judge Andrew Hanen's temporary hold on the programs has been in place for a month and the difference of a few days in and of itself isn't a terrible setback. However ...
[T]he 5th Circuit's move could be an early sign that the appeals court—viewed as the most conservative in the country—isn't favorably inclined to the Obama Administration's view that Hanen's order needs to be overturned quickly.
Head below the fold for more on this story.
Immigration advocates would like to move forward with the two programs—Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals and Deferred Action for Parental Accountability—as soon as possible. The programs not only provide deportation relief, they would also allow certain immigrants to apply for legal work permits, an extremely important provision for the undocumented.
Many immigration advocates think Judge Hanen is trying to drag out the Republican-led legal challenge to the immigration programs as long as possible as a means of weakening the overall effectiveness of the programs. In that respect, the 5th Circuit's ruling on whether Hanen's injunction must be lifted represents a critical step in the process of implementing Obama's immigration actions.
Although 25 states joined Texas in challenging the president's executive authority to take such action, 14 states have now submitted a legal brief in support of Obama's actions. Washington State attorney general Bob Ferguson writes:
A federal judge recently halted President Obama’s executive action that would make millions of immigrants eligible to live and work legally in the United States, accepting the argument of Texas and other states that reforms will impose a fiscal burden on them.
I disagree. Bringing undocumented workers out of the shadows is not only humane, it’s also good for the economy, and I’m leading a coalition of 14 states and the District that filed a brief Thursday with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit explaining why.